[AMCN] Ducati’s 2026 Red Riot!

Four new models busted that cover major market segments

Documents filed by Ducati have revealed the first details of no fewer than four new models that we can look forward to for 2026, including radically revamped Monster and Desert X ranges as well as a new range-topping superbike.

All the information comes from a VIN decoding document filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the US, which demands that all manufacturers selling bikes in the States reveal exactly how to make sense of the 17-digit VIN that’s stamped on every chassis. By comparing the latest VIN decoder with the same document published last year for the 2025 model range, we can glean vital information about all these new machines.

Here’s how the key new models in Ducati’s 2026 range are expected to pan out.

1: New Monster and Monster+

These shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. The current Monster range, launched for the 2021 model year, was the first in a long time to eliminate a variety of different specs and engine sizes in favour of a single model in two trim levels – standard and “+” – powered by the same liquid-cooled, 937cc Testastretta 11° engine that was used in a host of bikes from the Multistrada V2 to the Supersport 950 and Hypermotard.

Four years on, that Testastretta 11° engine is being axed, with the models that used it either getting revamped or being eliminated from the line-up. For the Supersport 950, it was a death sentence, but for the Monster it means a new model is on the way.

It’s confirmed in the new VIN decoding document. It reveals that bikes with the letter ‘U’ in the sixth position of the VIN, which relates to which model line the bike is part of, will include the Panigale V2, Multistrada V2, Streetfighter V2 and – in a change from the previous edition – the Monster and Monster+. That indicates not only that the Monster will be getting the same 890cc, variable-valve timing V-twin engine that debuted in the other ‘V2’ models last year, complete with conventional sprung valves instead of Ducati’s signature desmodromic system, but that its chassis is also likely to be borrowed from the other models listed alongside it. Despite their very different appearances, the Multistrada V2, Panigale V2 and Streetfighter V2 all use a modular, semi-monocoque half-chassis, with the 890cc, 89.5kW (120hp) engine as a fully structural component. A bolt-on steering head and seat subframe, as well as different suspension, allows for a variety of geometries and styles from a set of shared components.

The fact that Ducati simply calls its 890cc engine the “V2” rather than using an exotic-sounding title like Testastretta, Superquadro or Desmoquattro indicates that in the future the company expects it to be the only V-twin engine in its range.

2: New Desert X

Another current model powered by the Testastretta 11°, the Desert X is also going to change for 2026. Unlike the next-gen Monster, the Desert X has its own ‘model line’ designation in the sixth VIN position (the letter ‘N’ denotes Desert X), so it won’t be sharing the same chassis as other bikes with the 890cc V2 engine, but we know it’s getting the new engine from another entry in the VIN decoding document.

It’s the seventh character in the VIN that counts, as it denotes which engine each bike uses. From 2026 an “A” in the seventh spot will mean an 890cc twin with – in the words of the official document – a “gearbox dedicated for Desert X”.

Previously, the VIN decoder listed two versions of the 890cc V2 engine – one shown by the number ‘8’ in the seventh VIN spot, the other by a number ‘9’ – with the latter differentiated by a “gearbox dedicated for Multistrada”. Having used all the letters in the alphabet and all the numbers from 1 to 9 for previous engines, the new 2026 Desert X engine recycles the letter ‘A’ as its designation, previously used for the long-discontinued Monster 400.

Like the existing Desert X, we’d expect an off-road-spec chassis.

3: Diavel V4 RS

A slam-dunk reveal in the new VIN decoding document is the Diavel V4 RS – named alongside the existing Diavel V4 and Diavel for Bentley models for bikes getting the letter ‘R’ in the sixth position of their chassis number.

What that doesn’t tell us, though, is how the RS version will differ from the standard bike. For a clue, we have to look to the only other bike in Ducati’s range to wear an ‘RS’ badge, the Multistrada V4 RS.

On the Multistrada, that RS designation is an important one, as it means the bike gets the superbike-spec, 1103cc Desmosedici Stradale V4 engine from the Panigale V4 instead of the 1158cc Granturismo V4 engine that’s used in all the other Multistrada V4 models. It’s a big change, as the Granturismo engine is a lower-revving design with conventional valve springs, while the Desmosedici Stradale is a more powerful, higher-revving design with desmodromic valve actuation.

It’s logical to expect the Diavel V4 RS will get the Desmosedici Stradale, like the Multistrada V4 RS. It’s also possible that Ducati could use any variant of this engine, even creating a a 200hp-plus muscle cruiser.

4: Panigale V4 R

For years Ducati has offered homologation-special ‘R’ versions of its superbikes to help get an edge in WorldSBK competition, so the introduction of an all-new Panigale V4 for 2025 meant that a new Panigale V4 R couldn’t be far behind.

The new VIN decoding document certainly points in that direction, but it also hints that the next-gen R might be substantially different from the mass-production Panigale V4 than its predecessor was.

Why? Because in the past the Panigale V4 R has carried the same model line designation as the standard bike, a ‘G’ in the sixth VIN position, but from 2026 it will be denoted by a ‘P’ in that spot instead.

Under WorldSBK rules it will still have to use a 1000cc engine rather than the 1103cc V4 that the normal Panigale runs, but the addition of a Panigale V4 R-specific VIN designation indicates that the rest of it could stray from the stock Panigale as well. That could mean a new chassis, perhaps even a carbon fibre one, like the old Superleggera?

We’ll have to wait and see.

5: What about the Hypermotard?

With the Desert X and Monster set to make the shift to the 890cc V2 engine, a question mark hangs over the only other model to use the Testastretta 11° V-twin – the Hypermotard 950.

The new VIN decoding document doesn’t reveal what’s happening to that bike. It’s doesn’t show a dedicated version of the engine for the Hypermotard, as it does with the Desert X, or add it to the same model line as the Panigale V2 and Streetfighter V2, as it does with the next-gen Monster.

It’s possible that there will be a new Hypermotard as well, potentially combining the chassis of the next-gen Desert X with the 890 V2 engine in Multistrada or Panigale/Streetfighter spec, but if that was the case we’d expect the bike’s name – presumably ‘Hypermotard V2’ – to show up in the ‘model line’ section of the VIN decoder. It doesn’t.

The old Hypermotard 950 name is shown (which is no guarantee that production will continue, as names remain on the decoder even after bikes are discontinued) but doesn’t fit with the 890cc engine. As a result, it’s possible that the only Hypermotard in the range, at least for a while, might be the single-cylinder Hypermotard 698 Mono.

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