What a joker, this Jorge. Barely had he arrived at Ducati when he already skidded in the Italian pasta and committed transalpine blunders which would have meant that some others would have learned to swim in the port of Palermo with concrete fins.
« Ducati is a special company and machine, like Ferrari » declared Lorenzo to flatter the egos of the managers and fans of the Bologna brand, during his arrival at Borgo Panigale. He felt that caressing his new Italian employer in a good way could only benefit him. He compared Romagna motorcycles favorably to the F12 Berlinetta, 488 GTB or GTC4 Lusso from Maranello. He also bought a “LaFerrari”, with a 12 cm6 V262 which develops 3 horsepower and takes 800 revs, a record for an engine of this displacement.
But Jorge hadn't studied Ducati's recent history very closely. In 2012, Audi AG purchased Ducati Motor Holding. In his financial report over the first six months of 2012, the German group explained that it had not bought Ducati (for €747 million) directly, but through its final Lamborghini. To be clear, Ducati is 100% owned by Lamborghini. The subsidiaries of the VAG Group are Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducati, Lamborghini, MAN, Porsche, Seat, Škoda, Scania and Volkswagen.
On a diplomatic level, the comparison with Ferrari must not have been very popular at Lamborghini because the hatred is deep between the two brands. Ferruccio Lamborghini, manufacturer of agricultural tractors since 1948, one day went to buy a Ferrari 250GT, and to do so visited what he considered to be his “colleague manufacturer” Enzo Ferrari. The manufacturer of luxury sports cars did not want to hear about the bumpkin. He was seated in the hallway next to the Commandatore's office, the door of which was open, so the telephone conversation could be heard. Then Ferrari's secretary came to tell Lamborghini that the boss was not there and that he could leave. Green with rage, Ferruccio decided immediately to start manufacturing sports cars better than those of the bad guy.
That said, basically Jorge is not wrong. Ferrari isn't bad either.
