WORD FROM THE TOP: PAOLO QUATTRINO

Given the chance to grill Ducati’s marketing product manager on the new Hyper, we didn’t need a second invitation.

FB: Is there a resurgence of motard riders?

PQ: Not so much a resurgence. We discovered there is a stable number of customers that like this kind of motorcycle, and who love the nature of a pure fun bike. The kind of people who don’t worry so much about the versatility of the package, or how capable it is at touring around on. For them, fun comes first. Knowing this gave us the confidence to produce a pure motard, much more along the lines of the original Hypermotard than the softened second generation. Of course, for Ducati, this is a very important model in our range because it represents a genre that isn’t really challenged by anyone else. It means that people will naturally look to the Hypermotard first if they want a bike of this nature, making it strategically significant for us.

FB: Who’s it aimed at and how has it changed?

PQ: The core focus are riders that no longer want to ride a pure sportsbike on the road. The Hypermotard is a more relaxed ride than a supersport machine, but it still offers all the excitement and thrills. It’s the perfect compromise for people who want a halfway house. With the 939 we received feedback from customers that asked for change. The main complaint was the seat height, which was too tall and too wide. The other major issue was the harsh power delivery, which was considered too aggressive by a lot of

people. These main issues became core focuses with the 950. We narrowed the seat width to lower the seat height, worked hard on the fuelling, and even changed the throttle bodies to optimise the usability of the motor. We are confident that these changes, along with the improvements of power, lowering of weight and major increase in technology, will make the new 950 our most appealing and capable Hypermotard ever.

FB: Is there demand for a smaller or larger Hyper?

PQ: Of course, we have a lot of engines in our line-up. Take the 1299, for example. It is the perfect engine to have a lot of fun with on the track, powering a pure sportsbike, but the 1299 L-twin was considered to be excessively powerful for a motard. It would have been unusable to the majority of riders that aren’t professional riders, so it didn’t make sense to go down that route. The Hyper is meant to be a fun bike, not a difficult one. As for a smaller capacity motard, we didn’t see sense in that, either. The 950 has a fantastic amount of torque and power, with a considered delivery throughout its rev range. If we went to a smaller capacity, we would lose out on those figures and that would make the bike less fun. Of course, some people buy smaller capacity motorcycles, but it just wasn’t a direction we wanted to consider, and we never would. The Hyper has established its place in the market as a larger capacity motard, and that’s what people want.