Ducati Working on Less Expensive V-twin Sportbike

Recent VIN documents appear to show that the SuperSport 950 and Streetfighter V2 models will join the Panigale V2 in the extinct category sooner than later.

Ducati has already confirmed that the Superquadro V-twin engine that’s been a staple of the company’s lineup since the original 1199 Panigale of 2012 is disappearing from the range in 2025, taking with it the Panigale V2 and presumably the Streetfighter V2 models. Now there’s firm evidence that its replacement will be a lower-cost sportbike that might also supersede the SuperSport 950.

The limited-run (555 units) Panigale V2 Superquadro Final Edition leaves no doubt that Ducati’s most highly strung V-twin engine, the ultrashort-stroke Superquadro, is getting the chop, but the older Testastretta 11° V-twin motor that’s used in 937cc form in an array of bikes including the Multistrada V2, the SuperSport, the Monster, the DesertX, and the Hypermotard 950 is expected to live on and could well be the basis of the new sport model.

It appears there will be a new sportbike powered by the Testastretta 11° V-twin.

Solid evidence of the new bike has emerged in new VIN decoding documents published by the NHTSA for Ducati’s 2025 range. While the engines and models listed in the main bulk of the paperwork are existing ones, revealing no surprises, there’s a twist in the tale because the bike chosen for the “example” of a 2025 Ducati VIN is the unannounced new sport model. The document simply refers to it as “2102 Project” (a name that fits into the company’s normal naming protocol for new models under development) and gives two example VINs: “ZDMHAU8T?SB??????” and “ZDMHAU8T?ST??????.”

The question marks in those VINs represent the individual bikes’ frame numbers and the so-called “check digit” that’s used, with a calculation, is to help establish whether the VIN is correct. But the remaining numbers and letters all refer to specific elements of the bikes in question and confirm that they’re examples of the new sport model.

Starting at the beginning, the first three letters, “ZDM,” is Ducati’s World Manufacturer Identifier code, used on all its modern bikes to confirm who the manufacturer is, so we can skip straight to the fourth letter, “H.” According to the VIN decoding document, this character represents which of Ducati’s model ranges the bike sits in, and “H” is defined as “Ducati Superbike street bike.” For context, other letters used in this spot include “A” for Multistradas, “B” for Hypermotards, “D” for Panigale V4s, “F” for Streetfighters, “G” for Diavel/XDiavel models, “K” for Scramblers, “V” for SuperSports, and “X” for the DesertX. So the new bike is a “Superbike” but not a Panigale V4 or a SuperSport. The only model in the current range with “H” as its fourth VIN character is the Panigale V2, so 2102 Project appears to be that bike’s replacement.

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The fifth character in the VIN, “A,” is used across all Ducati’s bikes, so we can move on to the sixth, which is “U.” That relates to the specific model line, and at the moment Ducati’s decoder shows only letters from “A” (for V-twin Panigale models) to “T” (for the latest generation of Scramblers), so the sixth VIN character “U” denotes an as-yet-unreleased model.

In the seventh position is the number “8,” which relates to the bike’s engine. Ducati’s decoder list of engines that can be denoted here run all the way from A to Z and then from 1 to 7, with the last of those being an as-yet-unreleased version of the Multistrada V4′s 1,158cc V-4, listed as having “new mechanical parts compared to the Multistrada.” Although, the document published on the NHTSA website has since been updated to remove the reference to that engine, ending instead with “6″ for the latest version of the 1,103cc V-4, as used in the 2025 Panigale V4. Either way, the “8″ of the 2101 Project’s example VIN isn’t listed, so at the very least it’s a development of an existing engine, if not an all-new design.

Moving on to the eighth character in the VIN, which is “T” for the 2102 Project, and that also defines the engine’s power, and which is perhaps the most significant one as it reveals that the new machine isn’t a fire-breathing beast despite being positioned in Ducati’s “Superbike street bike” category. “T” means the engine has between 111 hp and 122 hp, which is a strong suggestion that it’s a variant of the existing 937cc Testastretta 11°, which currently puts out 114 hp in bikes like the SuperSport 950.

With the ninth character being the check digit, we can move on to the 10th, “S,” which means “2025 model year.” The 11th is shown as both “B” and “T” in the two examples and stands for “Bologna” and “Thailand” to indicate that the new model will be made in both locations. Finally there are five question marks in positions 12 to 17 to represent the sequential production number of the bikes.

A new sportbike that is more aggressive than SuperSport 950 and not as aggressive as the Panigale V2 is coming soon.

All this information ties in neatly with rumors that the Panigale V2 and the SuperSport 950 are likely to be replaced with a single model, with lower performance and a lower price than the Panigale V2 but a more aggressive, sportbike style than the SuperSport 950. The VIN details of 2102 Project perfectly match that description, shifting the bike into the Superbike streetbike segment of Ducati’s range but with a level of power and performance nearer the SuperSport 950′s.

The demise of the Superquadro V-twin will also leave a gap where the current Streetfighter V2 sits in the range, so it’s not inconceivable that an additional model based on the same platform as 2102 Project could be spawned to fill that gap if there’s a big enough space between the similarly powerful Monster and Hypermotard 950 to attract a significant number of customers to such a machine.

As in previous years, Ducati is expected to run a series of new model unveilings over a period of several weeks during the latter part of 2024, and with 2102 Project’s example VIN showing it’s a 2025 model it’s almost certain to be the subject of one of those launches.