Whoever thought they would hear the words “Ducati” and “electric scooters” in the same sentence?

But now it seems Chinese manufacturer Vmoto has signed a licence agreement with the Italian manufacturer to make luxury electric scooters under the Ducati brand.

They will be sold worldwide through current distribution networks, so they could be coming here.

Electric noise

Ducati has been making noises about scooters and electrics over the past few years and has licensed two electric projects to other companies.

In 2015, there was the e-Scrambler painted in Scrambler Urban Enduro colours. It was made under licence to Ducati by Italwin, an Italian company specialising in pedal-assisted electric bicycles.

In 2017, Ducati Western Europe managing director Edouard Lotthe said they were looking at both scooters and electrics, while VW Group Chairman Matthias Mueller said Ducati would have an electric motorcycle by 2020.

In the same year the Ducati Zero futuristic design concept was produced by the Milano Scuola Politecnica di Design (Design Polytechnic School).

In 2018, Ducati unveiled its first electric mountain bike, the MIG-RR.

And this year Ducati boss Claudio Domenicali admitted he rides a Hypermotard converted to electric power with a Zero FX powertrain and said the company is about to join the electric bike race.

“The future is electric, we’re not far from starting series production,” he said.

So there could be more electrics from Ducati soon, rather than just a licensing agreement for luxury scooters.

Chinese electric scooters deal

The new licence deal signed with Vmoto will result in “CUX special Ducati edition” electric scooters.

Vmoto already make cheap electric scooters and motorcycles under the Super Soco brand which are available in Australia.

The top-of-the-range TS11200R electric motorcycle costs just $4990 ride away but has only 22km of range.

They say the Ducati/Vmoto CUX scooter will be marketed as a “high-end luxury product at a premium price” and sold globally over the next two years.

Vmoto and Ducati say they will promote the CUX special edition to the “existing worldwide distribution network”.

Ducati is imported by Frasers Motorcycles and Super Soco by Urban Moto Imports.

There is no word yet on whether they will be imported here or which importer would bring them in.

However, Vmoto managing director Charles Chen says the deal is partly intentioned to further grow Vmoto’s product awareness in Europe.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com