Ducati India has re-opened bookings for its flagship motorcycle – the Panigale V4. The Italian bike maker launched the V4 Panigale in India in January 2018, at which point only 20 units were up put for sale. These were lapped up by two-wheeler enthusiasts within a week.
Now, once again, only 20 units of the V4 (and its V4 S variant) are on sale. The Panigale V4 carries a sticker price of Rs 20.53 lakh whereas the Panigale V4 S retails for Rs 25.29 lakh (both prices are ex-showroom, Delhi). Pricing for the Panigale V4 duo has remained unchanged – despite the change in CKD and CBU import duties – as both the motorcycles are brought from Thailand. Since India and Thailand have a FTA (Free Trade Agreement), import duties are significantly less. Bookings for the Panigale V4 have commenced across Ducati dealerships in Delhi – NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kochi and Kolkata.
Speaking about the announcement, Sergi Canovas, Managing Director of Ducati India said, “The overwhelming response which the Panigale V4 has received even before the start of deliveries, is a testament of its domination in the superbike segment and we are delighted to announce the reopening of bookings to cater to the pending customers’ requests that we’ve collected so far.”
The Panigale V4 holds the distinction of being the first production Ducati motorcycle to be equipped with a four-cylinder engine. The V4 motor has been developed using Ducati's learnings from the Desmosedici MotoGP machine. The 1,103cc, four-cylinder mill pumps out 214hp at 13,000rpm and 124Nm at 10,000rpm, making it one of the most powerful production motorcycles on sale, globally. Ducati has also made a great effort to keep the weight of the motorcycles as low as possible. The Panigale V4 tips the scale at 198kg; the V4 S is even lighter, at 195kg. This low weight endows the flagship Ducati motorcycle with a power-to-weight ratio of 1.1hp/kg and puts the Panigale V4 S at the top of its segment.
The Italian two-wheeler giant has equipped the Panigale V4 duo with a plethora of features which include multi-level traction control, three different riding modes (Race, Sport, Street), a bi-directional quickshifter, launch control, wheelie control and a full-colour instrument console. The stock Panigale V4 is equipped with 43mm Showa Big Piston forks at the front and a fully adjustable Sachs monoshock unit at the rear. The V4 S, on the other hand, features electronically adjustable Ohlins NIX-30 USD front forks and a TTX36 monoshock at the rear.
Other goodies on the V4 S include a steering damper, Marchesini aluminium forged wheels and a lithium-ion battery. Both the motorcycles come with cornering ABS and Ducati Slide Control as standard. The Panigale V4 is the first road bike to use Brembo’s new Stylema front callipers, which are a more compact and lighter evolution of the previous range-topping M50s.
When talking about competition, the Ducati Panigale V4 rivals the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R, Aprilia RSV4, Honda CBR 1000RR, BMW S 1000 RR and the Suzuki GSX-R1000R.
Ducati India hasn't declined the fact that they might bring more units of the Panigale V4 for sale in 2018. Customers who book the motorcycle will have to wait till July for deliveries to commence.
Ved Janve
Azaman Chothia
Dinshaw Magol
Vishal Venugopal
