Ducati North America has some impressive Q3 2012 sales numbers, as the Italian brand is up 24% over the same time period from last year. Its ninth-straight quarter of retail sales growth, Ducati North America owes a great deal of its success surprisingly to the Ducati Diavel, which was Bologna’s strongest model for growth in September. Ducati North America’s sales were up 40% in September.

Ducati hopes that 2012 will be a record year for the company, with sales from the Ducati 1199 Panigale helping fuel that enthusiasm. While Ducati remains bullish about the Panigale’s sales, our Bothan Spies have hinted that the new superbike hasn’t exactly met the initially high-sales expectations.

Ducati is recalling 27 units of its Ducati Diavel sport-cruisers because of kickstands that may bend at the pivot point — yes, the jokes about the Diavel’s portliness practically write themselves here.

Affecting bikes made from May 25th, 2012, through June 28th, 2012, Ducati is recalling the Diavels because a bent or broken kickstand could allow the motorcycle to fall over, which has the risk of injuring the rider or someone near the motorcycle.

Mercedes-Benz and Ducati continue to circle each other, as the two iconic brands hammer out the details of how an Italian motorcycle company would fit inside a German automobile manufacturer. While the bean-counters and pencil-pushers get that shotgun marriage’s pre-nup arranged, we get to see interesting co-branding “partnerships” like this: the Ducati Diavel AMG Special Edition. While we’ve seen plenty of AMG-tuned cars in Ducati adverts, events, and press materials, this is the first time the sacred three-letter name has graced the haul of one of Bologna’s steads.

Ducati North America has posted its Q2 2011 sales figures, and business is apparently booming for the Italian company in the US, Mexican, and Canadian markets, as sales are up 61% in the second quarter of this year. Selling over 5,200 bikes to customers so far this year, Ducati North America’s year-to-date sales are also up an outstanding 63%. Helping drive the sales increases are the extremely popular Multistrada 1200 models and the new Diavel. Along with the already sales-topping Superbike 848 EVO and Monster 796, these models account for most of Ducati’s sales growth.

We’ve already talked at length at how much we liked riding the Ducati Diavel, as the Italian company’s take on the American power cruiser is a peppy and fun machine to ride on the streets and in the canyons. While there’s been plenty of reservations prior to the Diavel’s launch, Ducati seemingly has a winner on its hands as many dealerships in the US are sold-out on the machine, and the Bologna factory just reported that 5,000 units have been sold worldwide already this year (about 1,000 or so of those ending up in the United States).

There’s also a strong business case as to why Ducati had to build the Diavel, and by most journalists’ accounts, the company has successfully walked the line between staying true to the Ducati brand and extending the Italian company’s reach onto riders in other demographics. Shedding some insight onto the development and features of the Ducati Diavel, the Italian company put together a series of videos that expound further on perhaps one of the hottest bikes for 2011.

They’re obviously marketing materials and an overview of some of the Diavel’s core features, but for someone on the fence about buying a new Ducati Diavel, there’s a bit of edutainment to be had here. Find all five videos after the jump.

Ducati is recalling 964 units of its Ducati Diavel motorcycle for a faulty license plate holder mount. Affecting Diavels manufactured between September 23, 2010 and May 12, 2011, this recall concerns the brass inserts that are installed in the chain guard, which may deform over time, and result in the possible loosening of the license plate holder retaining screws on the swingarm. Because of this defect, the license plate holder could come loose and interfere with the rear wheel rotation, which could cause a crash.

We hear the Ducati Diavel is doing quite well in sales, with many dealers reportedly out of stock with the units. Though some dealers still have bikes in stock, namely the ones that jumped on the Diavel bandwagon early-on, it’s clear now that more people than just us here at Asphalt & Rubber were impressed with Ducati’s take on the performance cruiser category. While Ducati’s deal with the Devil got our overall seal of approval, some of this success surely has to be owed to the heavy media blitz from the Italian brand.

Like with the Multistrada 1200 release, Ducati has put the Diavel front-and-center in its marketing machine. Helping win the hearts and minds of the skeptics, Ducati has put together a short video advertisement of the Diavel, and for extra measure, a behind the scenes making of the clip. If you ever wanted to see how much effort goes into a one minute video spot, here’s your chance. Be sure to keep an eye out for the Mercedes-Benz cameo as well. Original advertisement and the behind the scenes footage after the jump.

Here’s a type of recall that we’ll begin to see more of in the coming years, Ducati North America is recalling 1,051 Diavel and Multistrada 1200 motorcycles because of a faulty software issue. A certain version of the hands free software package may cause the electronic steering lock to fail to disable during the “key on” process.

The result is that a rider would be unable to move their motorcycle, at least not beyond a small radial path. In the eyes of the NHTSA though, this could mean that a rider could start the motorcycle and attempt to ride off, and then realize they lack the ability to steer (read: not good). While the safety issue here seems fairly benign, the idea that one couldn’t get their bike moving because a 0 should be a 1 would be fairly frustrating to us if we were owners of either machine, hence the recall.

Ducati News Today must have gotten the same news tip as us, as a IT security blog is purporting to have information on how one can steal a Ducati Diavel (and presumably a Ducati Multistrada 1200) via the bike’s keyless ignition system. It should be stated up-front that the pos referenced is dated April 5th, with the writer of the blog supposedly discovering this information on April 1st…and well all know what sort of Tomfoolery goes on during that time of the year.

According to the post’s author, the Ducati Diavel can be started not only without having the key in the ignition, but without the key at all. While anyone who has ridden the Diavel knows that you only have to have the key in the proximity of the Diavel while you’re riding, the idea that one can start the bike without the key comes from a default code that comes up when such an act is attempted. Where things get sticky though is that the author claims that this four-digit PIN is set from the factory to be the last four digits of the Diavel’s VIN, and that few owners know of security feature.

If you had told me a few years ago that Ducati would build a cruiser-segment motorcycle, I probably would have called you a couple cylinders short of a v-twin. Up until recently, mentioning the thought of the Bologna brand chasing after Harley-Davidson riders would have invited fisticuffs in most Italian motorcycle cafés. And even despite the launch of the Ducati Diavel, you can start a heated debate among loyal Ducatisti by bringing up Italy’s latest power cruiser.

Make no mistake, the 2011 Ducati Diavel is a controversial motorcycle…and that’s putting things lightly (at worst it’s a complete dilution of the Ducati brand). If the Diavel is Ducati’s deal with the Devil, then let me play the Devil’s advocate for a moment, and put forth the business case about why this motorcycle had to be built, and what it means to the Ducati brand — minus the pandering to the Ducati faithful.