Dealers

I'm losing my Dealer (Miller Built in Lynchburg,Va.) It seems TRIUMPH is now requiring the dealers to have a certian amount of floor space and sell only Triumphs. This sounds like the same thing HD does because they can't sell off all the bikes they build. anyone else know of this?

Not sure if he (the dealer) gave you a legitimate reason. D&D Cycles, here in Pensacola not only sells Triumphs but also Ducati's and I think one other brand (mainly offroad type). Triumph is their main line of business.
Dennis

New Dealership

The local Victory Dealer has been negotiating with Triumph for several months to include the Triumph line. When I spoke to him last Week he was having problems with the demands that Triumph was giving him which were, exclusive floor space, stocking one each (18) of all their motorcycles on the floor and in addition signing a contract to sell at least 68 units for the 2008 model year, expanding the shop area to include 6 bays, two technicians trained by Triumph in California (at his expense of course), and lastly, approximately 900 Sq. Ft of parts department exclusively for Triumph. All of this translates into purchasing a second store for building a new one that would house both Victory and Triumph and still give each seperate flooring space. Estimated cost 1.5 mil. I have no doubt as to why parts etc are so expensive with Triumph doing all it can (like Harley) to hurt the consumers pocket book.

Whats interesting in all this is that the dealership 150 miles from me (the closest) has Yamaha, Suzuki and Triumph all under the same roof. They have two mechanics for the whole dealership.

With these kinds of requirements I'm not holding my breath that the business deal to put a dealership in town is going to happen although the perspective owner is in Altanta Georgia trying to negotiate a better agreement with Triumph at this writing. SB.

I'm aware of Triumphs' demands (for new dealers) and in light of the present economy, I believe their demands are unreasonable.

If they want to grow dealers in this country, they need to scale back their demands. Triumph is a niche bike in almost all areas of this country. Consequently, dealers need to be multi-line to survive and Triumph needs to be more flexible in their demands

What was happening, atleast here at Joe Harrison in San Antonio was Triumph was put on the back burner, in a back corner away from their mainstay Hondas and Suzukis.

It was so bad, that I myself road in there on my Thunderbird Sport to check out the then-new Speedmaster. I checked out the Speedmaster real good and wanted to take a test ride. The salesman asked "Why would you even be interested in that bike? You should be looking at the Honda ACE 750, which is a much better bike for less money." This after knowing that I already had a Triumph and was interested in another one.

Joe Harrison ended up dropping Triumph (with sales tactics like that, Triumph didn't stand a chance) Fortunately, Alamo BMW/Triumph just opened a new "state of the art" dealership and has picked up Triumph. These guys are real gear heads, so I expect them to be a pretty good dealership.

LoneStar BMW/Triumph in Austin was just as bad and actually had no interest in their Triumphs, steering people to their better selling BMW models. However, the past few years, since the Rocket III came out actually, Triumph started catching on and now they've jumped on that bandwagon talking about how long they've been a Triumph dealer and such.

Triumph's sales demands are a little off the wall, but after being the bastard stepchild of multi-line dealerships, they're demanding equal representation.

64Herald said:

I'm losing my Dealer (Miller Built in Lynchburg,Va.) It seems TRIUMPH is now requiring the dealers to have a certian amount of floor space and sell only Triumphs. This sounds like the same thing HD does because they can't sell off all the bikes they build. anyone else know of this?

Click to expand...

Anthony,

I think that has always been a requirement for being a Triumph dealer (exclusive floor space). But, probably now that Triumph is becoming a more popular bike in the U.S. they are "flexing their muscles" and beginning to enforce the rule. The result will be that some dealers lose their franchise.

My local dealer has about 2500 sq feet on the floor that is Triumph central. They sell four other brands but each has it's own exclusive floor space.

This is a funny thread. Usually we complain about the poor dealer network and how Triumph doesn't have any control over their dealers.

The entire sales floor at my dealer is less than 900 square feet for both BMW and Triumph. And they were a featured dealer in the RAT Rag last year.

Pigger: I am still complaining about the poor Triumph dealer network and yes, the OEM has problems out there with some of its dealerships once they are set up. I would love to access to your small dealership as opposed to one so far away.

I the case I sited in my previous response, these folks (Victory) are very good people who have a business plan to handle the Victory for the V-Twin crowd and supplement with a second line to service the clients who want something totally different (Triumph) than the market offers in this area.

I agree with Flip with regard to the poor economy not supporting such a huge investment but more to the point, that the distance people have to travel to obtain basic maintenance on the Triumph bikes will prevent the initial sale in the first place. Service after the sale is on top of the list to those who just like to ride and who do not like to turn wrenches.

What I don't understand is how Triumph Corporate can make such financial demands on prospective dealers with the only obvious option for the customer base which is to let folks who could be swayed to purchase Triumph go instead to H-D or Brand X because of the travel distance and availability to Triumph dealership support. That IMHO is very poor business on the part of Triumph.

I would like to have a dealership close enough to get parts when I need them. I really don't care if the dealer has two or three bike lines to sell. I am interested in support for my R3. SB.

--Besides the poor dealer network you have this. I know all about brand loyalty around here but I don't think John Boy can survive to much longer with all the stories I have heard.If the new touring has the same problems (lower cam chain sprokets and output shaft bearings)etc I think I will be done with Triumph. No excuse for the same problems for so long. BJC

Two for me

I am one of the lucky ones. I have two Triumph dealerships within 20 miles of my house. I bought my Rocket from Belle Plaine Motorsports in, you guessed it, Belle Plaine MN. I used to live in Belle Plaine and it was a stroke of luck, I wanted a Rocket and there it was. The other is Motoprimo in Lakeville MN. BPMS is definitely my favorite of the two because they are a much smaller dealership and the service is superior. Both dealerships have a small portion of floorspace devoted to Triumph, but they do show some nice bikes. Motoprimo was at the International Motorcycle show at the Minneapolis Convention Center so there was a little Triumph presence there. I actually got to see the new Tourer up close, my wife said "it looks like a Harley, I like yours better." I think I have a keeper, but that is for another posting