No Ducati Multistrada V4 Until 2021
Rennie Scaysbrook | September 18, 2019
Ducati has confirmed it will not be bringing the much-anticipated Multistrada V4 to production until 2021.
The V4 Stradale motor will make its way to the Multistrada, just not next year as we anticipated.
The news came at the end of a press release about Ducati delivering the 100,000th Multistrada to a Ducati rider in Germany, with the company saying, “Development is ongoing, and in 2021 the Multistrada family will expand to see the twin-cylinder 1260 and 950 motorcycles joined by a version with a new, specific V4 engine.”
That at least gives us confirmation of the machine’s existence, which many industry insiders believed would be released towards the end of this year. It was even rumored the late Carlin Dunne—the man synonymous with the Multistrada Pikes Peak—would take to America’s Mountain on a V4 Multistrada prototype in 2019, however, he fronted the start on a Streetfighter V4 prototype, the production version of which will go on sale in 2020.
It is likely the V4 Multistrada will use a version of the 1103cc motor currently found in the Panigale V4 S and the upcoming Streetfighter, although what state of tune this will be in, we don’t know. Similarly, we don’t know if Ducati will be bringing a base-model V4 Multistrada and an up-spec V4 S Multi to market.
The sport-touring (with a firm emphasis on sport) segment will be one to look out for in 2020, with BMW giving their S 1000 XR a reworking—likely to feature the firm’s new ShiftCam motor found in the S 1000 RR superbike—and KTM reworking their 1290 Super Duke R (although we’re unsure if this update will extend to the Super Duke GT.
Ducati’s decision not to join BMW and KTM in a fight for 2020 will mean they devote more press attention to the Streetfighter V4 over the coming year, which will be unveiled at a special event in Rimini in San Marino on October 23.
