As predicted, Audi has dropped its Q1 2021 financials report, which means we get a glimpse into Ducati’s first quarter results for the year – and more specifically, which segments in Ducati’s lineup are performing (or not).
As we teased earlier this week, sales are strong for the Italian brand. Ducati is posting a 33% gain over 2020’s dismal numbers, but more importantly, Ducati still managed to show a 2% gain against the first quarter of 2019.
At the end of this week, Audi will release its official Q1 report for investors, which means that on Friday, we will get to see a fairly detailed view of how Ducati Motor Holding has fared in 2021 thus far.
Why wait until the end of the week though? A&R has an advanced look at those numbers now, with the Bologna brand touting a 33% increase in worldwide sales, compared to Q1 2020.
The 2021 WorldSBK calendar has been updated once again in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After delaying the Australian round provisionally until the end of the season, the Phillip Island event has now been postponed until 2022. And a race in the Czech Republic, in Most, has been added in the middle of the calendar.
We now take a break from our usual doom and gloom when it comes to Harley-Davidson motorcycle sales, to report that the Bar & Shield brand has reported a stellar first quarter to 2021.
What we expect will the first of many motorcycle manufacturers to see strong growth in the new year, Harley-Davidson saw a 9% increase in motorcycles sold in the first three months of this year. Boom goes the dynamite.
We could probably save a lot of pixels, and a lot of headlines, if we just wrote one story saying that updates have come to MV Agusta’s 800cc three-cylinder lineup…but where’s the fun in that?
Continuing the trickle of reveals, we have on the offer today the MV Agusta Brutale line, which includes the base model Brutale Rosso, the up-spec Brutale RR, and the auto-clutched Brutale RR SCS.
Can Marc Márquez win the championship this year? Has he left his return too late to catch up? How fast will he be on his return to MotoGP at Portimão?
The answer to all of these burning questions is “we don’t know”, but that doesn’t stop us from asking them. And from trying to make our best guess at what might have happened by the end of the year.
When we saw updates come to the Aprilia RSV4 superbike for the 2021 model year, we knew that a similar treatment was coming to the Tuono V4 line as well.
Now today, we get confirmation of that news, as the venerable streetfighter from Noale debuts with a facelift, some updates, and perhaps most importantly, a pretty clear distinction between the Tuono V4 and Tuono V4 Factory models.
American Honda has issued a recall on the 2021 Honda CRF450R dirt bike, with concerns that the drive chain could break and cause injury.
The stylish MV Agusta Superveloce model is getting some updates for the 2021 model year, along with an extra letter.
The big news is the Euro5 homologation for the 800cc sport bike, with a plethora of small changes to get the MV Agusta Superveloce across the finish line for the stricter European emission standards.
There is also the new white-clad MV Agusta Superveloce S model, which adds a few stylish flares for its extra letter.
Another year, and another April Fools Day is done and dusted, and this year’s affair was far less somber than 365 days ago, though the offerings on display in 2021 show a poor result from the motorcycling community.
Since Asphalt & Rubber is still on double-secret probation with Harley-Davidson for last year’s story, we decided to double-down on the Bar & Shield brand for this go-around. What are they going to do? Un-invite us from even more press launches this year? Pfft…
Our efforts saw us making an OnlyFans account for Harley-Davidson, paired with a story about how the folks in Milwaukee were using the pay-to-play content-creator site to reach a younger audience, all in a bid to turn the tide on their falling sales.
The whole thing is mostly an excuse to photoshop some sweet captions, and to make about half a dozen dick jokes at the expense of one of America’s most iconic brands. Such is the petty nature of motorcycle journalists.
It might be an exaggeration to call today’s news that Andrea Dovizioso is to test the Aprilia RS-GP MotoGP bike at Jerez from April 12th to 14th a bombshell, but it certainly raised a few eyebrows.
The Italian had previously turned down the offer of a full-time ride with the Noale factory for 2021, despite Aprilia extensively courting his services. So for Aprilia to offer a test ride is no surprise. For Dovizioso to accept is certainly interesting.