OK, I'm going Googless here. Help me out.
IFAIK, these are Terblanche's designs:
1) Supermono and Desmosedici
2) 999.
3) Multistrada.
4) Supersport.
5) Sport Classics (including that MHR thing).
6) ST
Now, #1 are beauts, but not for street sales. #6 was a subtle redesign of (I believe) someone else's original. Not good, not bad. #2 was a stylistic and sales failure. #4 was a ghastly redesign. #3 - well, I say ghastly, others say funky, sales say "try again." #5 is quite debatable - most folks love 'em, I like them but still think that they're closer to caricatures than homages. And how hard is it to design retro bikes?
So, in numerical order, there's one pair of clear winners, one somewhat-homely failure, one polarizing design with fewer defenders than detractors, one insanely fugly irrelevance (does anyone even talk about these models?), one set of winners (that's leaving my opinion out, since I seem to be alone in this), and one "eh, whatever."
So tell me why Terblanche shouldn't be considered a handicap to Ducati. I'm not saying I'm right, because style is subjective. But the guy's track record for street bikes doesn't seem too impressive (and his biggest street success were the easiest to design.) When I read interviews with the guy, and what the writers say afterwards, it just seems like he's a bigger bullshyt artist than bike artist, and Ducati is as spellbound as the moto press.
I'd love to hear a counterpoint. Again, these are just my opinions. I'm not presenting this as gospel by any means.