Since the official Panigale Superleggera specs were released, many of us have contentiously discussed its value and whether Ducati's heavy marketing, hyping, and high pricing of the Panigale SL are justified. Because of this, I've been interested in quantifying what value the Panigale SL offers over the next best Ducati offering (Panigale R) and comparing that to the value the Desmosedici RR offered over the next best Ducati bike of its time. Obviously the overall value someone attributes to a particular item is subjective, so for the purposes of this examination I attempted to quantify value based off pricing differentials and a very select set of performance characteristics: horsepower, torque, and kerb weight. Other factors that contribute to value by offering uniqueness or additional performance enhancing qualities (e.g., DTC, launch control, inclusion of exotic materials, number of units produced, etc.) were not factored but should certainly be separately considered.
The model I contrived to derive performance values is very simplistic. Each horsepower unit, lb-ft. of torque, and lb. of weight is equivalent to one point with advantageous differentials always being calculated in the positive and disadvantageous differentials always being calculated in the negative. Differentials between the bikes in each category are combined into an overall point total where they are then divided by the price differential and converted into a percentage. As differentials increase, total points correspondingly increase and must be weighed against the price differential to determine a value percentage. As value increases (performance advantage divided by cost to make the jump from the next best), so too does the performance value percentage.
The Desmosedici RR was announced in 2006 during the last year of reign for the highly successful 999R; however, production did not begin until 2007 and the first unit was not actually delivered until January 2008 - the same year the much touted 1098R was released. Due to this spread, performance value calculations for the Desmosedici were made using both the 999R and the 1098R for comparisons.
My findings were as follows:
Desmosedici Value Comparison:
- Ducati 999R: 85.5 points with a price differential of $41,005 = .2085%
- Ducati 1098R: 16.5 points with a price differential of $32,505 = 0.0507%
Panigale Superleggera Value Comparison:
- Ducati 1199R: 32.5 points with a price differential of 35,005 = 0.0928%
Conclusion:
The Desmosedici RR was an extraordinary step above everything else at the time of its unveiling and offered a tremendous performance value compared to the 2006 999R, but by the time it was actually delivered and in the hands of the public, the performance value it offered over the next best performing bike (1098R) was considerably less. Based on these figures, the Panigale SL not only matches the performance value offered by the Desmosedici RR when it was finally delivered, but it nearly doubles it! Thus, it could be argued that if an argument could have been made for purchasing the Desmosedici based solely on its performance characteristics and price compared to the rest of the Ducati lineup at that time, then an equally strong, if not stronger, argument could be made to justify purchasing the Panigale SL for the same reasons.
