Are Ducati-branded electric scooters coming?

The only thing Ducati about these Chinese-made Super SOCO CUx electric scooters is the name and logo.

Perth-based Vmoto who manufacturers in China has somehow obtained a licence agreement with the Italian manufacturer to make the luxury electric scooters under the Ducati brand.

The agreement was signed a couple of weeks ago, but it us still unclear where the scooters will be sold.

Apparently the scooters will be used as pit vehicles by the Ducati MotoGP team, but whether they will be available or sale anywhere outside of South East Asia remains a mystery.

We tried to contact  Vmoto for comment and received this email reply from Super SOCO importer Urban Moto Imports:

We are still working through the processes and complexities that have arisen, and a press release is expected to be circulated in the coming days, which will explain what will happen in the future regarding these scooters.

Vmoto originally said the Ducati/Vmoto scooter would be marketed as a “high-end luxury product at a premium price” and sold globally over the next two years through the “existing worldwide distribution network”.

Meanwhile, Ducati Australia says they will not be sold here.

They emphasise that the scooters are not a Ducati product, but “an electric scooter that wears Ducati’s colours, no more than that under a licensing agreement”.

However, the deal does show that Ducati is not shrinking away from the coming electric two-wheel revolution.

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.