Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

By David Swarts

Joseph Piazza, the newly-appointed CEO of Ducati North America, spent his first day on the job Tuesday, February 5 greeting 25 members of the motorcycling press in La Jolla, California as part of the 2002 Monster M620 i.e. North American launch.

Piazza was introduced to the media by out-going interim Ducati North America General Manager Nicola Greco. Greco will return to his permanent position as Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing for Ducati.

A former executive with Custom Chrome, an aftermarket parts supplier for American cruiser motorcycles, Piazza told the press that his former co-workers have teased him saying that he is “going from tattoos to cappucinos”.

“I will be truly dedicated to improving the North American market share, getting a lot more intimate by improving the service to our dealers, to be able to improve the communication to our dealers, to offer marketing programs that are in sync with our actual timing of delivery as well. I look forward to exchanging business cards with you and making a relationship with each of you as well,” Piazza told the group of reporters.

When asked about the circumstances that brought about the re-structuring of Ducati North America, Greco told Roadracing World, “Companies go through periods where they need to reassess what they are doing, and we looked at what we were doing in the States and we came the conclusion that the time for change had come.

“If you look at the share we have worldwide, Ducati has 6 percent within the above-600cc market. In the United States, we have 3 percent. After many years of growth, we came to a stop (in growth) last year, and there were many reasons for that.

“We looked at our marketing approach. We basically took advantage of the fact that Michael McMahon was leaving the company, and so we looked at the entire thing. That’s basically what I did for the last few months–re-engineering and restructuring. We have today an organization that is leaner and meaner than it was before.

“I was not happy with the overall performance of the U.S. operation, and so, since it is our most important market, I just put by my side my global sales and marketing role and took over the States for a couple of months to select a new manager and to re-structure the company. These things happen. They’re normal things.”

As another example, Greco said that worldwide, Ducati set a new company record in 2001 with the sale of 40,000 motorcycles with 20,000 of those being Monsters, including 10,000 Monster 600s. In the U.S. in 2001, Ducati sold 2200 Monsters and only 350 Monster 600s. Part of Ducati’s new marketing strategy included the large introductory “celebration” of the completely reworked Monster M620 i.e. in California resort town of La Jolla.

In addition to the hiring of Piazza, Greco said that he added a new Press Relations Manager, Myrianne Gaeta, a new Sales and Apparel Marketing Manager and will begin adding more field representatives “to look after our dealers.”