Africa Automotive News September-October digital issue 2019
Africa Automotive prides itself to be the ONLY Africa’s leading and MOST authoritative magazine for the automotive industry in Africa with printed copies for the automotive industry decision makers in both government, NGO’s and private sector. The Bi-monthly magazine offers cost effective advertising services that get results and improves growth in the auto B2C and B2B sector, keeping an eye on latest technologies in Africa and across the world, the magazine predominately covers the developments in the Africa auto industry.
Africa Automotive prides itself to be the ONLY Africa’s leading and MOST authoritative magazine for the automotive industry in Africa with printed copies for the automotive industry decision makers in both government, NGO’s and private sector. The Bi-monthly magazine offers cost effective advertising services that get results and improves growth in the auto B2C and B2B sector, keeping an eye on latest technologies in Africa and across the world, the magazine predominately covers the developments in the Africa auto industry.
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Motorbike<br />
Ducati are working on the ‘perfect<br />
electric bike’<br />
As with most manufacturers, electric<br />
bikes are clearly part of Ducati’s<br />
future, but for a business so<br />
focused on racing, it’s difficult to know<br />
what direction they will take.<br />
“We’re still developing our production<br />
bikes with the aim of being the best on<br />
the track,” Zampieri told MCN. “But with<br />
electric the difficulty is a compromise<br />
between weight and performance or<br />
range.<br />
“Today the whole package is not as<br />
good as we would like it to be, because<br />
the energy density that you can store is<br />
not high enough. The main challenge,<br />
technically, is reaching our performance<br />
and weight targets.”<br />
Does the ‘Zero’ give a clue to future<br />
Ducatis?<br />
He continued: “Being a company that is<br />
usually state of the art, we could arrive<br />
(with a product) that’s state of the art or<br />
even better than all of our competitors.<br />
The problem is: is now the right moment?<br />
It’s a small market and we’re still trying to<br />
understand when it’ll be ready for such<br />
innovation.”<br />
It’s a problem not dissimilar to the one<br />
Ducati faced a few years ago when their<br />
V-twin superbike had reached the end of<br />
its lifespan and increasing performance<br />
was nigh-on impossible.<br />
The solution was to move to a V4, but<br />
how would enthusiasts react after 50<br />
years of V-twins? “The V4 choice was<br />
similar,” says Zampieri. “We had a lot of<br />
discussions about whether our customers<br />
would appreciate it or not. Now we are<br />
having similar discussions.<br />
“You try to push the customer but need<br />
to know if they like it or not. Would our<br />
customers appreciate an electric bike? Is it<br />
the right moment for them?<br />
Electric student racer also had help<br />
from Ducati<br />
“Today they want a V4. The big question<br />
is: will they want it tomorrow, the day<br />
after tomorrow or later still? One day<br />
Ducati customers will ask for an electric<br />
Ducati, the difficult part is knowing when.<br />
We know how long it takes to develop a<br />
good bike. We are already drawing what<br />
the perfect electric bike is. The problem is:<br />
when do we want to bring it out?”<br />
Ducati’s other <strong>issue</strong>, of course, is<br />
maintaining the ‘Italian stallion’ dream;<br />
a bike that’s bad-tempered, clatters and<br />
boils your bits but is all worth it when<br />
42 <strong>Africa</strong> <strong>Automotive</strong> <strong>News</strong> l <strong>2019</strong> <strong>September</strong>-<strong>October</strong> <strong>issue</strong> l <strong>2019</strong>
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