With VW/Audi’s purchase of Ducati having now been officially confirmed (this is the third piece of Italy they’ve acquired after Lamborghini and Italdesign Giugiaro) Italian financial newspapers are now betting that there will be a high profile management shuffle at Borgo Panigale with the General Director or even the CEO being replaced.
Luca De Meo, the current Director of Marketing for the Volkswagen Group and former CEO of Fiat Automobiles Spa is the number one name that is currently being bandied around that could replace either Claudio Domenicali or Gabriele Del Torchio.
The Italian manager was also behind Fiat sponsoring Yamaha in MotoGP from 2007 to 2010.
Believe it or not, but a big number of one-minded Italian Ducati MotoGP fans wouldn’t mind that Del Torchio – who has done an excellent job so far in bringing to the market and different new models and bettering overall sales in the recent years – being axed, as they believe he is responsible for ruining the MotoGP team by letting Casey Stoner leave and hiring a ‘has-been’ like Valentino Rossi, while closing down the factory World Superbike team.