Marking yet another motorcycle launch as the market prepares for the festive season, Ducati India has rolled out SuperSport and SuperSport S superbike variants today. The Italian premium bikemaker has introduced an all-new SuperSport category, thereby giving a new charge to its India portfolio.

The liquid-cooled, twin-cylinder, 937cc, 110bhp superbike variants have been rolled out with a starting price tag of Rs 12,08,000 (ex-showroom, India) for the SuperSport version. The SuperSport S variant costs Rs 13,39,000 (ex-showroom, India).

With this latest product introduction, Ducati now offers about 20 motorcycles and their variants across six different product verticals and categories, which include Scramblers, Diavel (compact street cruiser), Hypermotard (hyper street), Monster (naked street), Multistrada (adventure tourer), Superbike and SuperSport (both fully-faired sports).

According to the company, the new SuperSport type will appeal to enthusiasts who wish to ride sports-bikes for common city commuting purposes. Sergi Canovas, who took over the operations at Ducati India from Ravi Avalur two months ago, said, “The SuperSport, our seventh motorcycle launched in India this year, is an exciting model for both expert riders and riders contemplating the Ducati sports world for the first time. Expert riders will enjoy its excellent road performance and penchant for touring, while the ease of handling and versatility will be appreciated by first-time sportsbike buyers. The pre-bookings for the SuperSport have been great and our dealership across the country start deliveries today.”

Ducati claims that the new SuperSport variants are compact, lightweight, agile machines that are easy to handle in city traffic and comfortable to ride on highways. The SuperSport motorcycles also come with the Ducati Safety Pack, which includes safety electronics such as 9MP ABS by Bosch and Ducati traction control systems. The latter helps in terms of optimising rider control on surfaces offering less grip.

Highlighting the advanced electronic controls in the newly launched SuperSport motorcycles, Ducati says, “The sport, touring and urban riding modes act on the ride-by-wire, ABS and DTC parameters to modify the behaviour of the bike and adapt it to suit rider preferences and riding conditions.” In addition, the SuperSport S variant offers fully adjustable Öhlins suspension, the Ducati Quick Shift up/down system (MotoGP derived technology) and a rear seat cover. 

Notably, for Ducati loyalists and big bike enthusiasts, the company is offering the Ducati Quick Shift and the rear seat covers as accessories for the SuperSport version as well. “The SuperSport variant can be fitted with full range of Ducati Performance accessories that let owners configure their bike to suit personal tastes,” says the company. 

According to the company, the SuperSport frame is the evolved version of Ducati’s famous trellis design, which is compact, light and rigid. “Intelligent frame configuration has played a key role in limiting the motorcycle weight to around 210kg,” quotes a Ducati SuperSport document.

Deliveries of the two premium motorcycle models have begun from today across Ducati India’s current network of seven dealerships (Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Kochi and Kolkata). The company is looking to open new dealerships in Chennai and Hyderabad over the next 12 months. 

India sales likely to see uptick in 2017

The company is understood to be looking at setting a network of 9-10 dealerships by mid-2018 across all major urban markets. The premium brand, which does not report its annual sales to SIAM, sold more than 1,000 units in CY2016 thereby growing at 18 percent YoY. Ducati India is expected to outsell its CY2016 sales in CY2017. The growth this year is expected to be driven by its new BS IV-compliant Scrambler range. The launch of Monster 797 and Multistrada 950 earlier this year (June 2017) is also expected to contribute healthy numbers to Ducati’s annual sales this year.

According to SIAM data for FY2016-17, motorcycles above 800cc reported sales of 2,983 units, down 13.39 percent YoY. The numbers are expected to recover in FY2017-18.