VW adds iconic Italian motorcycle company to its stable of brands...
What's the use of a little liquidity if you can't splash some of it around?
That appears to be the credo of Ferdinand Piech, recently reconfirmed for a third stint at the wheel of Volkswagen AG, who has just dipped into the deep corporate money pool for a bit more than a billion dollars to add legendary motorcycle maker Ducati to his collection of Italian companies.
Ducati made a pretty nice birthday present, along with his re-election as chairman late last month, for the now 75-year-old Piech, who has been single-mindedly steering Volkswagen toward the goal of becoming the largest car maker in the world for the better part of two decades.
Although some industry watchers, possibly irked at having to buy their cars and bikes one at a time rather than by the factory-full, see it as perhaps a little self-indulgent. “It's a new toy,” sniffily opined one, who's perhaps never owned a Ducati, as Piech does.
But what true corporate collector – VW's “toy” box now contains a dozen brands – wouldn't round out his Italian portfolio by adding the classic Ducati name to that of previously acquired exotic car maker Lamborghini and renowned design house ItalDesign if they had the chance.
And, unlike many other periods in a history that has more whoop-de-doos than a stadium motocross track, Ducati's driving engine is currently as “on song” as it's ever been....more here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/car-life/classic-cars/in-pursuit-of-ducati-magic/article2426428/
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