Flyboymedic

https://www.thedrive.com/news/38629/...a-headquarters

Could it be that there were too many EPA noise complaints about the dry clutch?
Was it from doing away with the trellis frame on the Monster?
Crappy range on the Hypermotard tank?

dstevens

My guess is this has something to do with the federal lawsuit against Volkswagen and the diesel emissions issue.

Ducati is owned by Volkswagen under its Lamborghini subsidiary.

Perhaps the feds believe Volkswagen to be hiding cash, assets, reporting or something like that in the Ducati business shell.

craiger

Maybe they're tryin to find out why these new Ducati superbikes are so gawd-dam expensive. $30K for a motorcycle that will leave you in traction after an hour? Parts 4-10 weeks out; arrogant, snobbish, nose-in-the-air dealerships, reliability issues, too reliant on electronic "rider aide" computer modules/ECU's that must be hellishly expensive to replace and/or reprogram, not to mention the wait from Italy with their Covid issues, etc etc.

Now, don't get me wrong, if I won a shit ton of money in the lottery (or if the gubment keeps giving out free money , I'd head on down to MotoCorsa tomorrow and pick me out a couple of rides, but just like skiing, bicycling, just about any outdoor activity, they're pricing these activities right out of the middle classes' hands. WTF?

MikeMikeMike

Lol, 30 armed agents with guns drawn? Searching for financial documents...

Der gestapo... I guess it is slightly ironic that now America is sending jack boots after an Italian subsidiary of a German company...

Sentinel

i think it was valve and belt maintenance.
oh, and electrics.

dstevens

For what it is worth, I am told that the story as reported was greatly exaggerated and that there were only 4 federal agents and there were only two Ducati employees in the offices at the time. Everyone else (at Ducati) was working at home due to COVID 19.

Greg

Is this a parody comment? These Italian 214hp superbikes are too expensive?

juanitotheclumsy

On the other hand, if this is about Volkswagen's pollution deception, VW was actively poisoning your air in order to line their pockets. Are you OK with that?

Tripledij

I see Godwin's Law is alive and well.

MikeMikeMike

#4...

I can't imagine any link between Ducati and VW on the emissions issue aside from the ownership so I'd be willing to bet money this raid was not related to the emissions cheating scheme. In that case criminal charges were filed and VW pled guilty to them and paid $4.3B, so that seems to be a closed issue. Plus having worked for a large multinational company with engineering offices all over the world, those are completely siloed. There is no sharing or collaboration between the motorcycle engine development group in Italy and the diesel emissions cheating office in Wolfsburg.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/volks...l%20Protection

I just think any government that relies so heavily on escalating threats of violence is heading in the wrong direction. Law enforcement is out numbered 3000:1, which essentially means they can either operate within an acceptable window, or exert so much violence that everybody is afraid of them. Seems like we are heading in the wrong direction.

Maybe you disagree? Maybe the government isn't violent enough...

Transported

I think it was very well established that management knew exactly what engineering was doing. This was not some rogue operation at VW. This was intentional fraud to become #1 in US sales even if it was destroying the planet.

I will never buy a VW again, though my family bought them from the 1960s bugs on.

Fuck them. Nazis.

Sentinel

governments operate through lies and violence.
the thing is, once we uncover the lies we leave them with only one option.
#truthisdangerous
#stfuorthey'llkillusall

Sentinel

MikeMikeMike

Yeah it is too bad that no individuals were ultimately held criminally liable because I completely agree with your assessment. This program was well known and intentional. They tried charging the former CEO, but it sounds like he's going to walk.

I am still willing to buy Ducati's...

Transported

Season 1 of Dirty Money, a documentary series created by Alex Gibney on Netflix, has the episode Hard NOx. It makes an air tight case against VW. They even subjected primates to diesel exhaust in a bizarre echoing of Zyklon B and the gas chambers.

Hence calling them Nazis at heart is actually pretty accurate.

You have to see it to believe it. And some executives did serve time.