Ducati has announced that it has extended the shutdown of its production lines in Borgo Panigale to March 25 because of the recent coronavirus outbreak. Italy has become the epicentre of Europe’s widening outbreak and other Italian marquees like Ferrari and Maserati, too, have made a similar decision.

Italy has been under a nationwide lockdown to limit the spread of the virus, but the production of motorcycles was still largely underway until last week. On March 13, Ducati announced that it would halt production until March 18 to implement “a series of works and actions on the production lines" for its workers’ added safety, and for "the introduction of a multi-shift work programme in order to halve to number of persons present on the assembly line at the same time.”

However, as the situation got worse, the company extended the shutdown to March 25 “in order to ensure full compliance with the new guidelines, which will require a few more days of work and modifications to the structures”. Ducati also said that all activities relating to new product development and market support are ongoing in compliance with the rules of conduct against the spread of the virus.

Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati Motor Holding, said “My thanks go to all those who, on a daily basis and even in a difficult situation like this, are confirming the great value of a united, cohesive but also sensitive and attentive workforce. For them, for their safety and for their security, measures and choices like the ones we are making are necessary and owed. However, all the support services for our customers are guaranteed, first and foremost the supply of spare parts.

We want to reassure Ducatisti and our dealers all over the world: we are organising ourselves to be ready for the restart and, even in this period of downtime we will not fail to provide support."

Ducati’s confirmation comes after KTM announced it would be shutting its factory for two weeks as a result of an interruption of components supply due to the complete shutdown in northern Italy.