I suspect that it was only a matter of time before the folks at Investindustrial Holdings, the new owners of Ducati, felt the need to make their mark and push whatever was currently in the development pipeline out the door. According to Canadian Online Motomag OneWheelDrive.Net, over the holidays Ducati officially announced that the Hypermotard is infact going to join the Ducati family sometime in late ‘07 or early ‘08.
Since some American dealers already starting accepting deposits on these bikes even though there were no offical delivery dates this probably isn’t much of a shock. Especially when you consider that the concept bike garnered so much attention when it was first shown at the Milan Motorcycle Show late last year.
However if the marque’s financial troubles are anywhere near as serious as the mainstream motorcycle press has made them out to be as of late one has to wonder if the Motard is really capable of saving the Ducati brand. Either this will be a repeat of 1993 all over again and the Motard will be the Monster for a new generation or the company is going to add yet one more product to an already crowded product matrix. Only time will tell.
At the same time the company has also announced that the 2006 Paul Smart 1000LE has ceased its production run at a mere 2000 units thus making it the same sized production run as the Mike Hailwood MH900e, which as you may recall was only sold over the internet.
Apparently in 2007 a similar bike will be produced but at this time no other details have been announced. Given the wording it appears that this bike could be another retro revision, but it also might be sometime very different.
You can read more about both announcements in greater detail at here at OneWheelDrive.Net .
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