The Ducati Multistrada V4 S Looks Ready For October 2020 Debut

The Multi is out again.

02:55

Sabrina Giacomini

By: Sabrina Giacomini

Sep 14, 2020 at 1:29pm ET

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We’ve been hearing about the incoming Ducati Multistrada V4 for about a year now. What started with spy shots of a test mule out and about turned into a confirmation from the CEO of Ducati himself, Claudio Domenicali. Celebrating the production of the 100,000th Multistrada last September, Domenicali confirmed the rumors that a V4 version is in the works and that it would launch as a 2021 model.

At the time, we expected the bike to make its official debut in October, 2020, and while Ducati has since remained rather quiet on the topic of new models (what with a pandemic and such), it looks like the development is on track.

The folks at RevZilla got their hands on a series of pictures showing the Ducati Multistrada V4 S being tested on the trails and the bike looks about ready for production.

Our early assumption was that the V4 would slot in between the 950 and the 1260—especially considering the 1260 was upgraded to its current displacement only two years ago. According to RevZilla’s Dunbar Spurgeon, based on information received from a "source", however, the new V4 will be a replacement for the 1260 and 1260 S. An interesting if not puzzling decision by the manufacturer should it turn out to be the case.

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Spurgeon also suggests that what we do know about the new Ducati Multistrada is that it will be lighter than the 1260 S that currently weighs in at 467 pounds dry—likely thanks to a smaller fuel tank. The most interesting bit of information the crew gleaned from its source, however, is about the engine. The V4 underlying the Multistrada will apparently be entirely different from the one used in Panigale V4, built and tuned to meet the requirements of the Multistrada’s customer base.

We can still expect the new model to launch in October, more specifically during Ducati’s annual lineup event that usually takes place shortly ahead of EICMA. While this year’s Italian motorcycle show was canceled, considering previous editions of the Ducati event were already streamed online, there’s no reason to believe that the Italians won’t follow their usual timeline for 2020.