by mark » Mon Apr 02, 2018 11:39 am
From what I've heard, the reason National Powersports gets such preferable treatment from Triumph is because they're a huge-volume dealer. Apparently they move a LOT of bikes.
I've also heard that Triumph's dealer policies come not from Triumph NA, but from Triumph headquarters in the UK. Apparently they're trying to apply the same model they do in Europe, not considering the fact that enforcing that kind of rigorous uniformity between dealers just doesn't work in a region with such widely varying population densities as we have here in the US. Many Europeans don't realize just how vast the US is, and how unpopulated many parts are. The thinking at Triumph corporate may well be that if people from Vermont want to buy a Triumph, they can easily just pop down to Boston or New York to buy one; it's only like an hour away, isn't it? And those dealers in places like Rochester or Buffalo ought to be able to sell plenty of bikes to afford Triumph's rules if they just work a little harder; after all, they're in New York and have a population of millions to sell to, right? Unfortunately John Bloor is no longer running day to day operations at Triumph and has handed over control of the company to his son Nick, and I get the distinct impression that Nick doesn't understand international markets as well as his dad.
I just hope that Triumph management wakes up and realizes how badly they're shooting themselves in the foot before it's too late. Trouble is, they're currently selling a shitload of bikes to the urban hipster crowd so they think they're doing well, but in a couple of years when that crowd decides motorcycles are no longer fashionable, the market is going to get flooded with low-mileage used Triumphs competing with the new bikes on dealer floors. I predict sales of Tigers, Speed/Street Triples, and Daytonas won't be affected too much because that's not what the hipsters are buying, but Triumph is going to have a hard time moving Bonnevilles, Scramblers, and Thruxtons.
--mark