Despite the world still reeling from the Covid pandemic, Ducati posted its best sales figures in its history in 2021.

Global Pandemic? What Global Pandemic? Says Ducati

While the world was still reeling from the upset of 2020, 2021 didn't look as if it was going to be any better, despite everyone getting increasingly used to the 'new normal'. Businesses were still getting to grips with lockdowns and material shortages and any hopes of recovery seemed a little far-fetched.

But that's not what happened in 2021. It seems as if people were bored of this new way of life being imposed on them and were determined to get back to the old way of life as quickly as possible.

One indication of this comes from Ducati. 2021 was their best sales year in its history, with 59,447 new bikes being sold. That the figure is 24% up on 2020 is no surprise but being 12% up on 2019 - the last year of 'normal' conditions, is incredible.

Surprisingly, the Multistrada V4 was the top-selling model, with 9,957 units sold around the world.

"2021 was a magical year for Ducati," said CEO Claudio Domenicali. "We delivered over 59,000 motorcycles, a number never achieved before in 95 years of the company's history.

"We also won the title of MotoGP Constructors' World Champion for the second consecutive year, and we started the electric era of our company with the V21L prototype, which foresees the bike that will race in the MotoE championship from 2023."

It's an incredible performance by any measure, especially for a high-end brand such as Ducati. One might expect it of the Japanese Big Four or even Triumph or KTM, but for Ducati it's a reassuring indication that things are getting back to normal, however slow it may feel for many still struggling with lockdowns and huge spikes in Covid cases.

It will be interesting to see if 2022 brings the same levels of growth.