2008 Wrap-up - Pro Italia Dear friends and motorcycle enthusiasts, I want to send this personal note as 2008 comes to a close. Since 1987 I've owned Pro Italia with two other friends from college and I've been directly involved in running the place since 1999. It's been an interesting year. Ducati motorcycle sales have never been better yet we go into the next year knowing our customers and all of the world are unsure of what's to come. I want to assure you Pro Italia remains committed to Italian motorcycles and the art of motorcycling here in the Los Angeles area and through our website to motorcyclists worldwide. Going into 2009 we will continue our relationship with you by offering in store and online seminars and events. In the coming months we'll have speakers on traction control, track riding technique and the business side of marketing motorcycles. We'd like to hear what subjects are interesting to you. In the showroom, Ducati have new bikes coming; the M1100, 1198S, and Streetfighter as well as new apparel/technical gear and accessories. In our service department, we're offering a free 10-point safety check and evaluation of your bike on selected Sundays. Needless to say, we appreciate everyone who we met in 2008; whether you bought a Desmosedici, a pre-owned Monster, a helmet, an oil filter, used our service department in Glendale . . . or just stopped in to talk at our display at Laguna Seca, Indianapolis or the IMS show. A highlight for our shop in 2008 came following the wet Moto GP at Indy where at the Ducati National Dealers meeting, Pro Italia was recognized for having sold more motorcycles, apparel and parts than all other dealers in North America. In 21 years of representing Ducati, we've taken home this award on more than seven occasions - all thanks to our 18 person strong crew, our enthusiast customers and Ducati for building motorcycles that inspire such passion. Lastly we're announcing the "graduation" of our Sales and General Manager Jake Simoneaux to a position with Ducati North America effective January 6th. In 2003 when I met and hired Jake, he said his dream job was to work for Ducati in Bologna and having dealership experience on the resume was key to getting there. He's been instrumental in our growth while at the same time maintaining our core values of treating all customers equal, fairly, and giving back to the motorcycle community. While we're losing him to Ducati in Cupertino, we're gaining another friend at headquarters. On behalf of everyone at Pro Italia, Happy New Year! Now go ride you bike (or at least sit on it in the garage until the weather breaks). Regards, Bill Nation Dealer Principal Pro Italia Los Angeles Ducati and MV Agusta Motorcycles 818 249-5707 http://www.ProItalia.com/

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