Ducati to open 3 more dealerships in India by 2017-end

Ahmedabad, Sep 20 (PTI) Italian superbike maker Ducatitoday announced to open three more dealerships across India bythe end of 2017, starting from Kochi. Ducati India is at present operational in five majorcities including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Pune,besides the newly opened showroom-cum-service centre inAhmedabad. "We will open our next dealership in Kochi. We haveplanned to add another three dealerships within the course of2017," Ducati India Managing Director Ravi Avalur toldreporters during the launching ceremony of Ducati’s cruiserbike XDiavel at their dealership on the SG Highway here today. Avalur, however, maintained that company does not planto open too many dealerships to maintain quality of services. "Our plan is not to open too many dealerships becauseit will be difficult to maintain this quality and standard ifwe do so. We can’t have dealers everywhere. We will berelatively contained compared to some of the major players,"said Avalur. According to him, the cruiser market in India isgrowing at a healthy rate, as around 6,500 bikes, which areabove 500cc and having a price tag of more than Rs 4 lakh,were sold last calender year. "Ducati’s growth is of course better than the market.Though we have just launched this dealership, we have out-soldall our initial stock here. Last year, our highest sellingmodel was Diavel," said Avalur. The newly launched XDiavel comes with a price tag ofRs 16.93 lakh (ex-showroom). Another variant of the bikeXDiavel S is available at 19.70 lakh (ex-showroom). PTI PJT PDDK ABKBAS