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00:00That's exactly our expectation, and especially for the U.S. market.
00:03I mean, if we think about this, the U.S. market's going to be at least 50% of that global business for us.
00:08And the thing that it allows is not only do we now go into, let's say, some markets that might not have been large enough to be viable for Ducati,
00:14like, say, some rural markets where off-road is a really big part of the motorcycling culture,
00:19but it also opens up that entire rider base to a whole new world of Ducati.
00:24And what's been impressive, I've been at supercross races and motocross races all over the year,
00:28just sitting there talking to people, talking to the owners, the riders.
00:32And what they say is they say, well, you know, we don't know a lot about Ducati,
00:36but what we do know is if you're bringing that expertise of what you do in MotoGP to the dirt, we're all in.
00:43They're, like, super excited about it.
00:45I have to say, so, obviously, I've been riding Ducatis for 20 years.
00:49I've known Jason for that long, and I've been a MotoGP fan.
00:53Ducati absolutely dominates.
00:56Like, a fair amount of times they've been one, two, and three on the podium.
01:00Now they have the greatest, maybe the greatest MotoGP rider of all time winning the world championship this year, Mark Marquez.
01:08And you've entered dirt at a really opportune time because KTM is, like, who knows how long they stay solvent, right?
01:13And they have been pretty dominant in off-road.
01:18And then you have grown up doing this, even as you're working for Lamborghini and you're working for Ducati and you serve the U.S. military.
01:27By the way, thank you for your service day after Veterans Day.
01:29You've always been in the dirt.
01:31So you have an incredible advantage here.
01:34Yeah, I think that the thing is, not only from an emotional perspective, as a motorcycle, so am I connected to that, but I read this amazing article a couple years ago that was the way to the heart of American motorcycles is not what you think.
01:46And most people's very first experience with motorcycling in the U.S. is riding off-road.
01:50So it's a way for us to connect with that.
01:53And quite honestly, in a lot of my free time, that's what I'm doing.
01:56I'm actually riding in the dirt, riding trails.
01:58I'm not a supercross, motocross guy.
02:00You're a mountain biker.
02:00I'm a mountain bike as well.
02:02But I mix.
02:02I love that.
02:04And it allows me to have the same sort of freedom and escape that I get when I'm riding on the street as well.
02:09A lot less traffic.
02:10So it's something that has really been a personal joy to me.
02:13So I feel like I have a, I'm learning a lot still, but I have a little bit of an advantage because I have already an emotional connection to what we're doing.
02:20By the way, speaking of emotional connections, milestones next year, the 100th year anniversary, you kind of tease new products.
02:27What kind of things might we expect?
02:30Well, I love this.
02:31I mean, the Centenario, you know, only comes once for a brand.
02:34And for me to be a part of this, we were saying it's a century made up in seconds.
02:38And it's kind of a little nod to racing.
02:41But we have a really robust.
02:42Yeah, we have a robust plan for this next year, not only in terms of all of the activities and events and things that we're going to do to celebrate this.
02:50But of course, we're going to have a lot of special products.
02:53You know, we're having products that will be coming out that will recognize that history of what we've done with Ducati and some milestones of racing, milestones of racing, milestones of design and things that will come out over the course of the next year.
03:04It's a little premature for me to give it away yet.
03:07But it's enough to know that there's some, I think, things that people will identify as moments of Ducati's history that they can reconnect with, which is the perfect time to do it.
03:16We're looking at video of the new Hypermotard, which is an all-new bike that you just revealed.
03:21I used to go to the world premiere for Ducati in Milan, which was always at the beginning of November.
03:26One time you released all the new bikes.
03:28Now you're doing it staggered throughout the year, right?
03:31Has that helped?
03:32I mean, what has allowed Ducati to continue selling more bikes in the U.S. as other manufacturers sell fewer?
03:39So first off, does it help?
03:41I think so, because if you launch everything at once, you sometimes just run the risk of one product standing out over the other and getting drowned out.
03:48So we have taken a little bit of this different approach where we stagger it through.
03:52But we also have 12 new products coming out in the next 12 months.
03:55I mean, it's like the largest product portfolio ever.
03:58So you need every product to be able to breathe, and product does drive people into the dealerships, and that's been a big part of it.
04:06But another part is the shift that we've had in our brand, how we've positioned ourselves, and to be more of an upper premium brand,
04:12really focusing on lifestyle, on experiences, and on giving people a reason not only to own the bike.
04:18It's not about owning it.
04:19It's what do you do with it?
04:20What sort of experience are you going to have?
04:22Are you going to go on rides and adventures with your friends?
04:24Are you going to spend time at the track and hone your skills, or soon are you going to go out and ride in the woods and enjoy riding off-road?
04:31So this kind of excitement that we maintain, and we live it.
04:36You know our global CEO, Claudio.
04:38We live it from the top all the way through the organization.
04:40We ride.
04:41We connect.
04:42We engage with our clients.
04:43Oh, yeah.
04:44A lot faster than me.
04:45Maybe not off-road.
04:46We'll see.
04:47A lot of people, though, would say this is like a very precarious time to be launching new products.
04:51For one, you have people feeling the bite of prices that have been high for some time, and potentially even higher.
04:57How are you managing your supply chain and prices in additional tariffs that are impacting you?
05:03You know, there's no question it's been difficult.
05:06But there's also opportunity when that happens.
05:09And what I see is when some people are, let's say, pumping the brakes a little bit.
05:13We saw this at the Milan Motorcycle Show last week.
05:16We looked at all of the new products that we would usually expect to come out.
05:19We didn't see them, but we're still, with a full-court press, bringing everything out because people still want.
05:26Are you charging more for them, though, to try to offset the margin?
05:29Inevitably.
05:29I mean, we're going to have to.
05:30There's costs that have increased.
05:31You know, we're surprised on a monthly basis of something new that's going to come or change, which is fine.
05:38We're learning to adapt to that.
05:39And we've been really clever about some things that we've done in finding savings elsewhere to try and minimize that passing on that cost.
05:47So it's actually helped us to be better at doing business as well, which, you know, whenever there's a crisis or whenever there's a problem, sometimes you just have to sit down and say, okay, clean sheet of paper.
05:56What do we do?
05:57And we've done that.
05:58And I just got done presenting our budget for next year, and it wasn't easy.
06:02It was the toughest one I've ever had to go through.
06:04But we've also found really clever ways to be smart about our spend and making sure we're getting returns on that so that we can keep investing into the products without, you know, extreme price increases as well.
06:17Could you ever assemble a bike in the U.S.?
06:19I mean, I guess a super bike has to be built in Borgo, Panigale, right?
06:23But I could imagine a dirt bike built in Detroit.
06:26We've actually thrown around a lot of ideas, and that's been one that's been put on the table.
06:30At this point, we've decided against it for now because we feel like the investments we've made into our manufacturing, we need to get the return out of that as well.
06:38But could it be?
06:39For sure.
06:39I think that if we see ourselves in a situation where the North American market continues to grow, maybe there's opportunities to be able to bring some production here.
06:48Yet, it's honestly just a concept.
06:51Dude, what is happening with Pecco this season?
06:54I mean, he's so inconsistent and often comes in close to the back of the pack.
06:59And you have Alex who continues to come in right up at the front.
07:03So, and other Ducati riders on non-factory bikes who are losing out or beating, I should say, to Pecco.
07:10I have my own theories, but quite honestly, I couldn't comment because I'm confused by everything else.
07:18It's the worst gossip next to Supercross and Motocross racing I'm learning.
07:24But MotoGP gossip in Europe, it's like, I don't know what to believe.
07:28Everything that I read, you know, oh, is it the bike?
07:30Isn't the bike?
07:31And then, you know, he...
07:31Can't be the bike.
07:32DG does great on it.
07:33Exactly.
07:34You know, where is his head?
07:35You know, I love the guy.
07:38I want to see him succeed.
07:40And there's a perfect opportunity for him to do it right now.
07:43Why he's not doing it, honestly, I can't tell you.
07:46But, you know, when we have somebody like Marquez that came in and basically did almost a complete sweep through the season
07:53and locked down the championship early, it's clear that we have an incredible motorcycle.
07:59And both of them are great riders.
08:00So hopefully we'll see something shake out later and before the end of the season and into next year.
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