As far as the looks go, the A4 now looks sharper than ever before. The grille now resembles something emblazoned on Superman’s chest, while the headlights and fog lights have gotten more angular and the bonnet and bumper have been tweaked to incorporate the changes done to all of the above. At the rear, the tail lamps along with the registration plate lights have gone the LED way, and the redesigned bumper gets a new diffuser at the bottom. On the whole, the A4 now looks a lot more sophisticated — an ideal match for a banker in a finely tailored business suit.

The Ducati, however, is a totally different ball game. With every line exaggerated for maximum effect, subtlety is not even in the Monster’s dictionary. The huge tail pipes nestled beneath the seat are in your face, and there hasn’t been even a half-hearted attempt to cover up the 795’s mechanicals. They’re there for all to lust over, in their naked glory. Piping and tubing run in and out of view, with the trellis chassis cocooning the whole thing, almost like an ornate frame around a painting displayed behind six feet of bullet proof glass at the Louvre.

These two machines are as similar to each other as chalk and cheese, like, erm, motorcycle and car. But they have been made family through holy matrimony. This brings up the question — what does Audi intend to do with Ducati? Will it let Ducati find its own way forward, or will the parent company choose to get into the day-to-day workings of the Italian marque, running it like another car brand? As I see it, it’s best to allow the Italians do what they do best — build exciting motorcycles that are as erotic as they are exotic. I mean, a Ducati that has Audi genes isn’t really worth looking forward to, although an A4 displaying Monster characteristics seems particularly interesting!