Motorcycle dealership woes

[Seeker]

Our local motorcycle dealer is Robspeed, they are, or I should say were, dealers for Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Honda. Apparently the larger manufacturers are following a strategy they used in the US - insisting that dealers modernise their stores, have a certain amount of floorspace dedicated to the brand and carry stock levels of branded merchandise.

Robspeed have decided it's not worth it so have dumped the Suzuki and Kawasaki franchises and the Honda franchise is looking dodgy too.

They still offer service on Kawasaki (for example) but don't do recalls etc. My nearest Kawa dealer would now be in Hull (the A63 is a pain after the Humber bridge) or Grantham which is 70 miles away. One reason I bought the Zed was because of a local dealer.
I bought my SV from B&B in Lincoln which is 40 miles away.

(Why didn't I buy the SV from Robspeed? they were winning a hostile takeover of the Suzuki franchise from the people who worked there - morale was low and apathy was high in the showroom!)

[Luckypants]

Same happened to A&D in Denbigh (closest dealer to me) a couple of years ago. Kawasaki pushed it first. To be fair the showroom really needed the uplift, so in a way its good they were forced into it. Otherwise it would have been the same place in another 20 years. Who's gonna buy £18K bikes from a shed?

If they go a bit more professional, the branded stuff will play well for them surely? Lots of people buy hoodies, fleeces etc at events, so why not while visiting the dealers? Stopping for a pie, tea and a mooch is good enough to keep up to date but doesn't put money in the dealers pockets but folks might buy something of the branded goods if its a relatively low value item. (relative to a bike purchase!)

[Bibio]

problem with fancy showrooms is fancy prices to cover the costs. reduction of dealerships will bring in forced price fixing by the manufacturers.

[gadget]

problem with fancy showrooms is fancy prices to cover the costs. reduction of dealerships will bring in forced price fixing by the manufacturers.

My thoughts exactly, slightly different topic but my mrs used to work for Vauxhall in Kent, servicing etc was rated at £65per hr, same dealership in London charge £135 per hr! Your not only paying for a service, your also paying for their swanky overpriced dealership. No wonder customers would drive from London to Kent to get their car serviced, they could have a day out, get a bite to eat, pay for fuel there and back and still have change.

[Sir Trev]

Triumph pretty much did the same on my local dealership. "Please move to a bigger/posher site nearer Oxford as it suits our dealer spacing around the country." When the dealer said no they removed their franchise. New holder is just outside Oxford (further away from me of course) as Triumph wanted, and the one time I went there I found it choc full of branded stuff for both the Triumph and KTM brands as they do both in the same store. The bikes were stuffed in a corner almost as an afterthought, although they were still decorating following the transition.

[ethariel]

Well the HD dealers are pretty much the same - bikes take up maybe 1/3 to 1/2 the floorspace (if your lucky), the rest given over to parts, clothing, upgrades, soft seating and coffee machines.

Likewise Rosners for Triumph had to have a big old facelift too with the same - big clothing dept upstairs and widely spaced bikes downstairs, soft seating and coffee.

It does in some ways make shopping for a new bike easier but i still peruse the likes of J&S (https://jsaccessories.co.uk/) when it comes to kit (most of the time...... I will hold my hands up to a HD leather that was massively discounted and is waterproof and surprisingly, fitted me! But the 'girl's zips' take some getting used to).

[Biker Biggles]

Long gone are the days when motorcycling was a popular activity and the dealerships reflect that. I can still remember 120,000 fans at Brands for WSB. Twenty plus years ago they were into selling lots of bikes at bargain prices and there were lots of dealers doing it. Now its a niche market with very high prices and fewer outlets, certainly for bigger bikes. I cant believe the prices for both new and used bikes these days.

[DJ123]

These days with PCP, and they're Toys for most people the long term profit has gone. Hence the add ons of service packs, clothing, accessories etc. Also, with the plethora of options available margins must be pretty slim with the competition out there too.