Italian motorcycle maker Ducati is expected today to announce a sales increase of 43 percent in North America for 2011. The results in the U.S., Canada and Mexico helped drive record sales worldwide, the company said. They also established North America as Ducati’s biggest global market.

Ducati’s sales stand out in a motorcycle industry that has struggled since the economic downturn of 2009. Sales across the industry plummeted about 40 percent that year and continued to fall in 2010. Some brands recovered a bit last year – German rival BMW’s bike sales rose 7.4 percent — but the jump at Ducati suggests a particular upside for certain segments, reported The Wall Street Journal.

The company says demand for its bikes appears to be an extension of a general trend for luxury products, especially niche brands.

Ducati’s sales in the U.S. rose 41 percent, Canada’s total rose 32 percent and the company’s newer, smaller Mexican operations posted a nearly threefold jump in sales. Ducati says the sales surge reflects its success in pursuing a broader range of riders with bikes like the muscular Diavel power cruiser and Multistrada 1200 sport-touring model.

The company has long specialized in high-performance sport bikes that are easily modified for racing. But as even as more people have taken up motorcycling in the past several years, relatively few wind up riding sport bikes. The Diavel, low wide and fast, is designed to lure customers who might consider big cruiser models from Harley-Davidson. The Multistrada takes aim at so-called adventure touring models from BMW, Triumph KTM.

While Dominique Cheraki, general manager of the North American unit of Ducati Motor Holding SpA, attributed sales growth to the newer Diavel and Multistrada, he notes the maker’s best-selling single model is a traditional super sport bike, the 848. One could argue the stripped-down entry-level Monster model, which comes in a number of sizes with engines ranging from 696 cubic centimeters to 1100 cubic centimeters, is a bigger seller. But that works only if one counts all of the different versions.

Cheraki says the 2011 results validate the company’s strategy of increasing its appeal by building a broader lineup of bikes to include cruisers and touring machines. He says riders shouldn’t expect any new, radical departures like motocross or sidecar models from Ducati in the next year. However, there is room for “new opportunities” in the market, which he plans to explore.