Ducati Motor Holding Announces First Quarter 2001 Revenues

    BOLOGNA, Italy, April 18 Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A., a leading manufacturer of highperformance motorcycles, today announced consolidated revenues for the first
quarter ended March 31, 2001.

    For the first quarter, revenues were Euro 100.6 million (US$88.8 million)
representing like-for-like growth of 2.9% over the same period in 2000.  Total
sales were down 2.0% from Euro 102.6 million (US$90.6 million) during the same
period in the previous year. This is due to a decrease of "miscellaneous other
sales" of Euro 4.8 million, reflecting the one-off buy-back of inventory by
the newly established UK subsidiary from the previous importer in January
2000. Revenues from Ducati motorcycles for the period increased 0.3% to Euro
85.6 million and represented 85.1% of revenues. Motorcycle-related products,
including spare parts, technical accessories and apparel, rose 21.3% to Euro
14.7 million over the comparable period in the previous year.

    "First quarter 2001 numbers were depressed by various factors," said Carlo
Di Biagio, Ducati Chief Executive Officer. "These include a combination of
uncertainty about the economy in general, harsh weather conditions,
particularly in the US and in Europe, and delayed shipments of our high-demand
new models, the Monster S4 and the ST4S, in certain markets."

    While official three-month world registration data, a measure of retail
sales, are not yet available, the Company's best estimates suggest uneven
registrations performance around the world.  Ducati registrations decreased 6%
in the three month period in particular due to the US and Italy. However,
Japan and France posted strong results.

    Over the previous four years, Ducati's first quarter registrations growth
rates have fluctuated widely, and have not correlated with final annual growth
rates. As the Company has indicated in the past, results should be looked at
on a semester basis to have a better indication of performance.

    "We are stepping up production of the S4 and ST4S to fulfill back-orders.
More bikes will be available in the next few weeks," added Di Biagio. "As the
weather perks up and the season gets going, we look forward to significant
improvements over the next quarter."

    Ducati Motor Holding will provide a detailed breakdown of sales in
conjunction with its release of first quarter 2001 earnings in mid-May.