Audi Completes Takeover Of Motorcycle Maker Ducati

How are the Bavarians taking in the news?

The thing to note here is that BMW has the expertise to build their own world class examples whereas Audi had to go out and purchase another marque obviously finances by its sugar daddy VW

Just like BMW needs help from Peugeot and Toyota? Successful companies do acquisitions in their industry all the time. Hint: take a look at silicon valley.

I think Audi is more the sugar daddy as far as profits go and VW is the kept lady spending his money. It's important to note that BMW got in the motorcycle business the way many (including Audi) did in the early days; by merging with someone who possessed a bit of a head start on the "bicycle" part of the equation. Not that they couldn't have grown the talent, but when it's available for purchase, it's often more economical since you get production capacity thrown in.

There are many reasons Audi's motorcycle production with DKW and Wanderer stopped, but expertise wasn't likely one of them and neither Daimler nor VW seem interested in keeping them alive. They could probably design and build a pretty decent motorcycle right now, but if actual production were the goal, that would be foolish when there's manufacturer available cheaply with production capability, an established name, and some interesting products that are not so perfect that they couldn't benefit from some of its new daddy's expertise.

BMW started with Motorcycles, then went into automobile production...FYI (Look up Karl Rapp)

Hopefully this will mean better distribution in the U.S. and a more reliable product from Ducati.

A collaboration that could bring a Ducati dealership to select, premium Audi dealerships would be very cool and a great marketing move.