Three New Ducatis Headed Our Way In 2021

Ducati’s latest filings with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reveal that the firm is working on three “Project” code-named bikes that will be added to the range in near future. The models in question are currently referred to by the code names “1703 Project,” “1706 Project,” and “1803 Project,” but we can make some educated stabs at where these machines will slot into the firm’s 2021 model range. The new filings are intended to allow Ducati’s VINs (vehicle identification numbers) to be decoded. Each of the numbers and letters in a VIN has a specific meaning, and in the 2021 model year they’re intended to cover the new Project models as well as the rest of the existing Ducati range.

The VIN layout is as follows: The first three characters are for the factory making the bikes—either ZDM for Ducati’s Bologna plant or ML0 for the company’s Thai factory. The fourth character defines the model range—Multistrada, Panigale, Hypermotard, Streetfighter, Diavel, “Superbike,” Scrambler, Monster, or Supersports. The fifth character is always an “A,” while the sixth refers to the more detailed model line and the seventh refers to the engine type. The eighth relates to power, the ninth is a check digit to verify a true VIN, the tenth is the model year, and the eleventh is the plant location. All that is followed by a six-digit production number.

It’s in this code that the new models are revealed. According to Ducati’s 2021 VIN definitions, the bikes covered by that "A" in the fifth character position cover all the known models in the range, but also the 1703 Project, 1706 Project, and 1803 Project.

Looking further down the definitions, the sixth character in the VIN, showing the more detailed model range that each bike falls into, is "C" for the 1803 Project—the same as the water-cooled Monster 1200 and Monster 821, and leaving no doubt that 1803 Project is a new water-cooled Monster model for 2021. Spy pictures have previously revealed that the firm is working on a new, aluminum-framed Monster, expected to replace the 821, and this is likely to be 1803 Project.

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The next new model to get a specific mention in the sixth character position is the 1706 Project—which gets its own letter, “L,” in the VIN rather than sharing with anything else in the range. That means it’s likely to be a machine that doesn’t have any other immediate relatives, and it’s almost certainly the long-awaited Multistrada V4, which won’t get the same VIN sixth character as the other Multistradas as it has a different engine layout.

Intriguingly, the document’s list of “engine type” VIN characters reveals that there’s a new 1,158cc version of the Ducati V-4 engine coming in 2021, and it’s almost certain that this is the motor going into the Panigale V4. A longer stroke—up from 53.5mm for the 1,103cc Panigale V4 to 55.2mm—would give the quoted 1,158cc overall size while simultaneously boosting torque, as needed for an adventure bike. The longer stroke would probably reduce peak revs and limit outright power to a slightly lower overall figure than the Panigale V4, but that’s no real loss on a Multistrada.

That just leaves the 1703 Project as an unidentified model, but again there’s a potential clue in the paperwork. The documents list a new version of the 1,000cc V-4 engine used by the Panigale V4 R WSBK homologation special, dubbed the “second step,” with a seventh VIN character of “U.” Current 2020 Panigale V4 Rs have the seventh character "S" for the original 1,000cc V-4. The current V4 R has been unchanged for two years, and Ducati normally updates its WSBK homologation machines every other season, so we’re on schedule for a revamped version as the firm tries to get its hands back on the WSBK title for the first time since Carlos Checa won on the 1198R nearly a decade ago.