Patritalia doubles down on €2.5bn Ducati bid as Ai MotoGP bikes and bold Italian-only rider pledge emerge

The increasingly bizarre saga surrounding the reported bid to buy Ducati has taken another twist, with Italian firm Patritalia publishing a lengthy public statement insisting its €2.5 billion offer is real. The document arrives as Patritalia simultaneously teases an all-Italian future for Ducati's racing programme, complete with AI-generated MotoGP, Moto2, and Moto3 race bikes.

The latest development comes after reports questioning whether a formal offer to acquire Ducati Motor Holding had ever been made. In its statement, Patritalia says it was forced to break its own confidentiality after what it describes as inaccurate reporting and speculation surrounding the proposal.

According to the company, a formal offer to acquire 100 per cent of Ducati Motor Holding was submitted on June 25, 2026, to the relevant contacts within Audi and the wider Volkswagen Group. Patritalia says the proposal was worth €2.5bn and insists it was both transmitted and received, adding that it is prepared to publish documentation and electronic receipts to support that claim.

What the company doesn’t claim is that negotiations are taking place, or that Ducati is even actually for sale. Instead, it repeatedly stresses that only Audi, as Ducati's current owner, has the authority to accept or reject the proposal, while confirming that its offer remains on the table and would be renewed if necessary.

In a social media post accompanying the statement, Patritalia said it wanted to ensure any discussion around the proposed acquisition was based on documentary evidence rather than "rumours and personal deductions". It called on media outlets to rely on verifiable facts when reporting the story.

That's where the announcement took an unexpected turn.

Alongside the statement were a series of social media posts that appear to be Ai-generated images showing Ducati MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 machines, with each carrying Patritalia liveries. While clearly conceptual rather than genuine factory race bikes, the renders appear intended to illustrate the company's vision for Ducati should a takeover ever become reality.

What’s really weird about these posts, and all of the posts on Patritalia boss Manuel Ros’ social media, is that despite him having 13,000 followers on Facebook, not a single like, comment, or share appears on his page. None of the posts shared seems to gain any traction, which, for someone with more than 10k followers, is a bit unusual.

Patritalia then went one step further by outlining what that vision might look like. In another social media post, the company suggested that, if it were ever to gain control of Ducati, it would ensure every rider representing the brand from Moto3 through to the premier class would be Italian.

It's an eye-catching statement, although one that raises plenty of questions. Ducati's current success in Grand Prix racing has been built around recruiting the fastest riders available regardless of nationality, and its factory MotoGP team currently features multiple world champions from outside Italy. A move towards exclusively Italian riders would represent a dramatic shift in philosophy, assuming such a scenario ever became possible.

For now, however, none of that appears any closer to happening. The most significant part of Patritalia's latest announcement isn't the AI artwork or the patriotic racing ambitions, but the company's insistence that a formal offer really does exist. The statement is carefully worded throughout, and does not suggest that Audi has entered negotiations or is considering a sale. Instead, Patritalia is drawing a line under one specific point: that a €2.5bn proposal was submitted and acknowledged by its intended recipients.

Whether that changes anything inside the Volkswagen Group remains to be seen. For now, Ducati continues to operate as normal, while one of the more unusual takeover stories in recent history just got even stranger.

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