. for the electrical and electronic component manufacturer see ducati energia . ducati motor holding s.p.a. ducati logo as of 2009 type private industry motorcycle manufacturer founded 1926 ; 90 years ago 1926 founder antonio cavalieri ducati adriano cavalieri ducati bruno cavalieri ducati marcello cavalieri ducati headquarters bologna italy area served worldwide key people rupert stadler chairman claudio domenicali ceo products cucciolo 750 imola desmo 916 monster revenue 702 million 31 12 2015 1 owner audi parent lamborghini 2 divisions ducati subsidiaries ducati corse website ducati.com footnotes references 2 ducati motor holding s.p.a. is an italian company that designs and manufactures motorcycles . headquartered in bologna italy ducati is owned by german automotive manufacturer audi through its italian subsidiary lamborghini which is all owned by the volkswagen group . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 ownership 2 motorcycle designs 3 product history 3.1 1950s 3.2 1960s 3.3 1970s 3.4 1980s 3.5 1990s 3.6 2000s 3.7 current lineup 3.8 current engines 3.9 past engines 4 motorcycle design history 5 enthusiasts groups 6 ducati products other than motorcycles 7 merchandising 8 racing history 8.1 motogp world championship 8.2 superbike world championship sbk 8.3 supersport world championship 8.4 fim superstock 1000 championship 8.5 british superbike championship 8.6 ama superbike championship 8.7 australian superbike championship 8.8 formula tt 9 see also 10 notes 11 external links history edit the first ducati logo 1926 1930s 3 in 1926 antonio cavalieri ducati and his three sons adriano marcello and bruno cavalieri ducati ; founded societ scientifica radio brevetti ducati in bologna to produce vacuum tubes condensers and other radio components . in 1935 they had become successful enough to enable construction of a new factory in the borgo panigale area of the city . production was maintained during world war ii despite the ducati factory being a repeated target of allied bombing . ducati factory ducati cucciolo 1950 meanwhile at the small turinese firm siata societa italiana per applicazioni tecniche auto aviatorie aldo farinelli began developing a small pushrod engine for mounting on bicycles . barely a month after the official liberation of italy in 1944 siata announced its intention to sell this engine called the cucciolo italian for puppy in reference to the distinctive exhaust sound to the public . the first cucciolos were available alone to be mounted on standard bicycles by the buyer ; however businessmen soon bought the little engines in quantity and offered complete motorized bicycle units for sale . in 1950 after more than 200 000 cucciolos had been sold in collaboration with siata the ducati firm finally offered its own cucciolo based motorcycle . this first ducati motorcycle was a 48 cc bike weighing 98 pounds 44 kg with a top speed of 40 mph 64 km h and had a 15 mm carburetor 0.59 inch giving just under 200 mpg us 1.2 l 100 km ; 240 mpg imp . ducati soon dropped the cucciolo name in favor of 55m and 65tl . ducati 175 cruiser 1952 ducati mach 1 when the market moved toward larger motorcycles ducati management decided to respond making an impression at an early 1952 milan show introducing their 65ts cycle and cruiser a four stroke motor scooter . despite being described as the most interesting new machine at the 1952 show the cruiser was not a great success and only a few thousand were made over a two year period before the model ceased production . in 1953 management split the company into two separate entities ducati meccanica spa and ducati elettronica in acknowledgment of its diverging motorcycle and electronics product lines . ducati elettronica became ducati energia spa in the eighties . dr. giuseppe montano took over as head of ducati meccanica spa and the borgo panigale factory was modernized with government assistance . by 1954 ducati meccanica spa had increased production to 120 bikes a day . in the 1960s ducati earned its place in motorcycling history by producing the fastest 250 cc road bike then available the mach 1 . 4 5 6 in the 1970s ducati began producing large displacement v twin motorcycles and in 1973 released a v twin with the trademarked desmodromic valve design . in 1985 cagiva bought ducati and planned to rebadge ducati motorcycles with the cagiva name . by the time the purchase was completed cagiva kept the ducati name on its motorcycles . eleven years later in 1996 cagiva accepted the offer from texas pacific group and sold a 51 % stake in the company for us 325 million ; then in 1998 texas pacific group bought most of the remaining 49 % to become the sole owner of ducati . in 1999 tpg issued an initial public offering of ducati stock and renamed the company ducati motor holding spa . tpg sold over 65 % of its shares in ducati leaving tpg the majority shareholder . in december 2005 ducati returned to italian ownership with the sale of texas pacific s stake minus one share to investindustrial holdings the investment fund of carlo and andrea bonomi . in april 2012 volkswagen group s audi subsidiary announced its intention to buy ducati for 860 million us 1.2 billion . volkswagen chairman ferdinand pi ch a motorcycle enthusiast had long coveted ducati and had regretted that he passed up an opportunity to buy the company from the italian government in 1984 . analysts doubted a tiny motorcycle maker would have a meaningful effect on a company the size of volkswagen commenting that the acquisition has a trophy feel to it and is driven by vw s passion for nameplates rather than industrial or financial logic . italian luxury car brand lamborghini was strengthened under vw ownership . 7 8 audi ag s automobili lamborghini s.p.a. subsidiary acquired 100 percent of the shares of ducati motor holding s.p.a. on 19 july 2012 for 747 million us 909 million . 2 ownership edit since 1926 ducati has been owned by a number of groups and companies . 1926 1950 ducati family 1950 1967 government istituto per la ricostruzione industriale iri management 1953 split into ducati meccanica now called ducati motor and ducati elettronica now called ducati energia 1967 1978 government efim management control over day to day factory operations 1967 1973 headed by giuseppe montano 9 1973 1978 headed by cristiano de eccher 10 1978 1985 vm group 1985 1996 cagiva group ownership 1996 2005 texas pacific group us based ownership and going public headed by ceo federico minoli 1996 2001 ; returning for 2003 2007 2005 2008 investindustrial holdings spa 2008 2012 performance motorcycles spa 11 an investment vehicle formed by investindustrial holdings bs investimenti and hospitals of ontario pension plan 19 july 2012 present automobili lamborghini s.p.a. 2 audi ag acquired 100 % of the voting rights of ducati motor holding s.p.a. via audi s automobili lamborghini s.p.a. subsidiary ducati logo 1997 2008 12 from the 1960s to the 1990s the spanish company mototrans licensed ducati engines and produced motorcycles that although they incorporated subtle differences were clearly ducati derived . mototrans s most notable machine was the 250 cc 24 horas spanish for 24 hours . motorcycle designs edit 2006 ducati paulsmart 1000 le ducati is best known for high performance motorcycles characterized by large capacity four stroke 90 v twin engines 13 with a desmodromic valve design . 14 ducati refers to this configuration as l twin because one cylinder is vertical while the other is horizontal making it look like a letter l . modern ducatis remain among the dominant performance motorcycles available today partly because of the desmodromic valve design which is nearing its 50th year of use . desmodromic valves are closed with a separate dedicated cam lobe and lifter instead of the conventional valve springs used in most internal combustion engines in consumer vehicles . this allows the cams to have a more radical profile thus opening and closing the valves more quickly without the risk of valve float which causes a loss of power that is likely when using a passive closing mechanism under the same conditions . while most other manufacturers use wet clutches with the spinning parts bathed in oil 15 ducati previously used multiplate dry clutches in many of their motorcycles . the dry clutch eliminates the power loss from oil viscosity drag on the engine even though the engagement may not be as smooth as the oil bath versions but the clutch plates can wear more rapidly . ducati has converted to wet clutches across their current product lines . ducati also extensively uses a trellis frame although ducati s motogp project broke with this tradition by introducing a revolutionary carbon fibre frame for the ducati desmosedici gp9 . product history edit see also ducati museum the chief designer of most ducati motorcycles in the 1950s was fabio taglioni 1920 2001 . his designs ranged from the small single cylinder machines that were successful in the italian street races to the large capacity twins of the 1980s . ducati introduced the pantah in 1979 ; its engine was updated in the 1990s in the ducati supersport ss series . all modern ducati engines are derivatives of the pantah which uses a toothed belt to actuate the engine s valves . taglioni used the cavallino rampante identified with the ferrari brand on his ducati motorbikes taglioni chose this emblem of courage and daring as a sign of respect and admiration for francesco baracca a heroic world war i fighter pilot who died during an air raid in 1918 . 16 1950s edit main article ducati singles 1960s edit main article ducati singles see also ducati apollo this section needs expansion . you can help by adding to it . november 2009 1970s edit main article ducati v twin engine in 1973 ducati commemorated its 1972 win at the imola 200 with the production model green frame ducati 750 supersport . ducati also targeted the offroad market with the two stroke regolarit 125 building 3 486 models from 1975 to 1979 but the bike was not successful . 17 in 1975 the company introduced the 860 gt designed by noted car stylist giorgetto giugiaro . its angular lines were unique but raised handlebars made for an uncomfortable seating position at high speeds and also caused steering issues . 18 1980s edit main article ducati desmoquattro engine ducati s liquid cooled multi valve v twins made from 1985 on are known as desmoquattro desmodromic valve four . these include the 851 916 and 996 999 and a few predecessors and derivatives . main article ducati paso 1993 ducati 907 i.e. the ducati paso was introduced in 1986 with the paso 750 followed in 1989 with the paso 906 . the final version came in 1991 with the 907ie iniezione elettronica now without the name paso . the design was from the hand of massimo tamburini who also designed the ducati 916 and mv agusta f4 . the paso was a typical you love it you hate it bike . however at that time it looked like that all enclosed bodywork would be the future for all motorcycles . the paso design was copied for the moto morini dart 400 and cagiva freccia 125 . together with tamburini s bimota db1 they were enormously influential in terms of styling . 1990s edit in 1993 miguel angel galluzzi introduced the ducati monster 19 a naked bike with exposed trellis and engine . today the monster accounts for almost half of the company s worldwide sales . the monster has undergone the most changes of any motorcycle that ducati has ever produced . in 1993 pierre terblanche massimo bordi and claudio domenicali designed the ducati supermono . a 550 cc single cylinder lightweight catalog racer . only 67 were built between 1993 and 1997 . in 1994 the company introduced the ducati 916 model designed by massimo tamburini 20 a water cooled version that allowed for higher output levels and