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I heard from an associate today that Ducati are looking into setting up part of their assembly plant in Brazil to reduce overheads and have recently laid off over 100 staff. Dilution of standards is seemingly where it is headed. As it stands they suncontract out about 55% of their production to subcontractors. The engines and frames being about the only thing they produce in house. Though recent threads suggest that they are throwing together engines at an alarming pace to meet quotas. Who knows. Build quality has improved since the TPG take over when Ducati were on a knife edge financially, so let's hope this recent reshuffle does not make things worse. Italian industry has a habit of tying itself in knots occassionally.
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