2025 Ducati Panigale V4 First Details

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Ducati’s Panigale V4 will be updated for 2025. How will it change from this 2024 model? (Ducati/)

Ducati will take the wraps off a brand-new generation of Panigale V4 in the next few weeks, and the key specifications for the bike have already leaked thanks to European type-approval documents.

Hot on the heels of the revelation that the Panigale V2 is to disappear from the range, ending decades of V-twin race replicas from Ducati, comes word of the new Panigale V4. But it’s not a smaller-capacity version to replace the 955cc V2. Instead, Ducati is adding even more power and reducing the weight of the Panigale V4 and Panigale V4 S for the 2025 model year.

The bikes are expected to be revealed to fans at World Ducati Week at the end of July, but in the past Ducati has used “closed room” unveilings at its annual Misano celebration, with phones and cameras strictly banned, so the presence of the bike at the event doesn’t mean the world will get to see it.

The Ducati Desmosedici Stradale V4.

So what do the type-approval documents show? Starting with the engine, they confirm that it’s a development of the existing Desmosedici Stradale V4, retaining the same category-defying 1,103cc capacity as before—an indication that a new Panigale V4 R homologation special with a sub-liter engine will be following. Peak power is up a fraction, rising from 212.5 hp to 213 hp. Even the most finely tuned butt dyno will struggle to pick out such a small increase, but there are other changes that will be more noticeable. For a start, the peak power now arrives at 13,500 rpm rather than 13,000 rpm, which is a substantial change and could be an indication that the engine is adopting elements of the screaming, 998cc Panigale V4 R, which redlines at an insane 16,500 rpm and doesn’t hit its peak power until 15,500 rpm.

The current Ducati Panigale V4 R uses a 998cc version of the Stradale V-4 that revs to an insane 16,500 rpm. (Ducati/)

The result could be that, like the V4 R, the next-gen Panigale V4 and V4 S engines will respond particularly well to the addition of race exhausts and remaps. On the V4 R, such small changes take the output from the road-legal version’s 218 hp to 237 hp. Another indication that the 2025 Panigale V4 and V4 S models have a more highly strung tune comes from the torque figure, which is lower than the 2024 version and doesn’t peak until substantially higher up the rev range. The new bikes’ maximum is 89.2 lb.-ft., which it doesn’t reach until 11,250 rpm. For comparison, the 2024 version has a peak of 91.2 lb.-ft. and only needs 9,500 rpm to reach it.

So a racier engine seems guaranteed, but what about the rest of the bike? The approval documents give clues there as well. The exhaust, for example, needs to be approved for road use in Europe, with a “CE” mark, and the approval document shows that the 2025 Panigale has two approved mufflers, each with type numbers that differ from their predecessors. That change will, in part, be down to the reworked engine, but it might also be a big clue to another rumored change—the adoption of a double-sided swingarm.

That has yet to be confirmed, but at least one prototype Ducati superbike has been spotted on test near the factory with such a swingarm fitted. Since the current Panigale V4′s belly-mounted exhaust system and muffler is specifically designed to fit around the bike’s single-sided swingarm, the switch to a dual-sided design would definitely mean a new exhaust needs to be developed.

The Panigale V4 SP2 30th Anniversario 916 pays homage to the Ducati 916 and is produced in a numbered and limited series of 500 units. (Ducati/)

Further indication that the chassis is changing comes from the dimensions revealed in the European type-approval document. It shows that the wheelbase of the 2025 bike is growing from 57.8 inches to 59 inches. That’s a substantial stretch, and it’s mirrored in the bike’s overall length, which rises from 82.5 inches to 83.7 inches. The new bike is wider, too, albeit by only 0.2 inch, and taller, with a listed height range of 46 inches to 48.8 inches—suggesting there will be a choice of screens on offer. The tallest version of the current Panigale V4 is listed at 47.2 inches, the lowest at 45.7 inches.

The bike’s weight, measured for Euro approval purposes with a 90 percent full tank of fuel and a notional 165-pound rider aboard, comes in at 604 pounds. In the same state, the current model is listed at 606.2 pounds. In metric terms, that means the new bike is 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) lighter than its predecessor, but since the approval figure includes fuel and we don’t know whether the tank’s capacity is changing, it’s impossible to be certain how it will compare to the claimed 423-pound, empty-tank weight that Ducati quotes for the 2024 model, other than to say it will be close enough for the difference not to be noticeable.

The rest of the approval information shows what doesn’t change as much as what does, for instance listing the tire sizes as the same 120/70-17 front, 200/60-17 rear as the current Panigale V4 and showing that the bike’s overall carrying capacity will be unaltered. It also gives no clue about the styling changes that might be expected. We believe that the bodywork will be all-new, but that the revisions to the appearance will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary, retaining a familiar style that builds upon the design direction of several generations of Panigale ranging back to the original 1199 V-twin model that introduced the name.

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