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Bassa
Halesowen West Midl ,
United Kingdom
Posts: 88
Sprint RS (02-05)
23 Jul 2008 13:57 |
Hi Chaps,
I have just heard a rumour that Action are losing their Triumph franchise.
Does anyone know if its true?
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Thomas Brightwell
Midlands,
United Kingdom
Posts: 3
Enthusiast
23 Jul 2008 17:52 |
I have heard same in September, means going to Cheltenham from Worcester I suppose.
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Rob BBTB
Birmingham,
United Kingdom
Posts: 24,370
Premier Member
Sprint ST (05->)
23 Jul 2008 19:51 |
I'd be suprised.
As solus Triumph and quite a succesful one at that.
Maybe not on the scale of some of the 'big business' dealerships but, imho, all the better for that.
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Bassa
Halesowen West Midl ,
United Kingdom
Posts: 88
Sprint RS (02-05)
24 Jul 2008 10:56 |
The Manager from Birmingham Triumph told me yesterday that it was because Action was too small.
( I was there on works business )
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Rob BBTB
Birmingham,
United Kingdom
Posts: 24,370
Premier Member
Sprint ST (05->)
24 Jul 2008 12:49 |
Was he trying to sell you a bike ?
There's a RAT run this weekend, might hear something, but I'll be disappointed if that's true.
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Bassa
Halesowen West Midl ,
United Kingdom
Posts: 88
Sprint RS (02-05)
24 Jul 2008 22:00 |
No Rob
It was purely work related. If I see you Sunday I'll tell you all about it.
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Rob BBTB
Birmingham,
United Kingdom
Posts: 24,370
Premier Member
Sprint ST (05->)
25 Jul 2008 12:20 |
Leaving Scropton, sometime Sat evening.
Seeya Sunday.
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Roger & out
Droitwich,
United Kingdom
Posts: 121
Enthusiast
25 Jul 2008 13:47 |
I don't like the sound of this thread at all. We could do with some input from someone who knows if this is just a dark rumour?
Rob - Bassa - see ya on Sunday
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Rig
Atherstone,
United Kingdom
Posts: 263
Premier Member
Sprint ST (02-04)
25 Jul 2008 16:21 |
[edited]:
I've just had an email from Action (part of their mailing list) and it's confirmed that they will no longer be a Triumph dealer after 31st October 2008.
Action Motorcycles News Letter:
IMPORTANT NEWS
As you know, Action Motorcycles have been a Triumph dealer since September 2000. We have been loyal to the Triumph brand for nearly 8 years now and have met many great Triumph customers, lots of whom have become friends.
Over the last two years, Triumph has decided to take the company in a certain direction and unfortunately, this does not correspond with the way that we want to grow Action Motorcycles. The requirements insisted on by Triumph, do not make financial sense for Action and we have decided to give notice to Triumph that we will not be continuing to be a Triumph dealer. As you can imagine, this was not a decision that we took lightly.
We will continue to be Triumph dealers until 31st October 2008, enabling us to continue to supply, service and provide a warranty service. From the 1st November, we will not be able to supply motorcycles or provide a warranty service; however, we will continue to service Triumphs along with all other makes.
There is an obvious benefit to all this, should you be looking to change your bike or purchase additional Triumph clothing, as we will be running down our existing stock of both bikes and clothing. There are some exceptional deals on new bikes especially Sprint ST’s, Tigers and Rocket III. We are also selling our demonstrator fleet.
So what is the future for Action Motorcycles Ltd?
Other Manufacturers:
We have been approached by several large motorcycle manufacturers; however, we will take care with the decision on who to partner in the future, and I will update you as discussions progress. |
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Jackie
BEDS,
United Kingdom
Posts: 8
Enthusiast
26 Jul 2008 16:40 |
[edited]:
Steve at Action will have taken sometime to reach this decision, and as the e-mail says, it was not taken lightly.
Bassa states "The Manager from Birmingham Triumph told me yesterday that it was because Action was too small."
How is it that they seem to know so much, of what is of course a confidential matter between Triumph UK and Action?
It is perhaps telling that the Pure Triumph (who also run Birmingham Triumph) empire is growing rapidly, with rumours that the latest two are owned by Triumph themselves.
Lets hope that the other remaining dealers are still able to compete in the future.
Good luck to Action with their future plans.
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Bob Southgate
London,
United Kingdom
Posts: 681
Sprint ST (02-04)
26 Jul 2008 17:33 |
You have to wonder about Triumph and the decisions they make about their dealers. They were more than happy to pull the plug on Boyer Racing, a dealer with an excellent reputation amongst its customers, staff who knew what they were talking about and mechanics who knew the bikes inside out and were always helpful. Yet they keep Ongar Motorcycles on their books, a dealer I have yet to meet anyone who has a decent thing to say about them.
What planet are Triumph living on?
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Rob BBTB
Birmingham,
United Kingdom
Posts: 24,370
Premier Member
Sprint ST (05->)
27 Jul 2008 19:37 |
Seems Triumph are only interested in solus dealers, who have large sums to invest and are prepared to sell nothing but Triumph parts and accessories.
That's a policy that works for car dealers, but motorcycle buyers have virtually nothing in common with their four wheel counterparts.
I hope, for Triumphs sake, they know what they're doing, but I'm beginning to have my doubts.
As an aside, Honda recently set up a large, solus m/c dealership, not far from here. The shop that had been selling Hondas, for longer than I can remember, couldn't afford the set up expenses of their corporate showrooms and lost the franchise.
Not sure of the reasons, but that new dealer lasted barely 12 months before it was closed down. Honda no longer have a dealer, on this side of the city. (the 2nd largest city in the country, don't forget)
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AC
Northants,
United Kingdom
Posts: 1,655
Premier Member
Sprint ST (99-01)
28 Jul 2008 14:12 |
[edited]:
Jackie:
Bassa states "The Manager from Birmingham Triumph told me yesterday that it was because Action was too small."
How is it that they seem to know so much, of what is of course a confidential matter between Triumph UK and Action? |
According to Actions latest filed accounts they have net assets of £456 (that's pounds, not thousands.)
Pure Triumph (and presumably Birmingham Triumph) are trading names of Autohaus Ltd, who according to their last filed accounts have net assets of £421,710 and a turnover of £35 million.
None of this information is confidential, you can get it from any credit reference service.
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Thomas Brightwell
Midlands,
United Kingdom
Posts: 3
Enthusiast
29 Jul 2008 15:15 |
Single Make Shops
Harley Davidson, most KTM, many Ducati,spring to mind.
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Koro
Kidderminster,UK,
United Kingdom
Posts: 336
Premier Member
Sprint ST (99-01)
29 Jul 2008 15:25 |
The bean counters at triumph will only be interested in the volume and bottom line.
I've not bought a bike from Action, but they seem to have a pretty active RAT pack, so it's a pity.
Honda have already gone the way of the bigger solus franchise - I thought about buying a Fireblade, but there isn't a dealership within 40 miles of me for warranty work etc, so that's saved me 9 grand.
Any dealership will struggle to do the volume to support just the one marque.
The West Midlands seems to struggle to retain dealerships- there's been several unsuccessful attempts. Wylie and Holland are a multi franchise with a good reputation, I hope Triumph don't dump them as well.
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Jackie
BEDS,
United Kingdom
Posts: 8
Enthusiast
29 Jul 2008 15:28 |
[edited]:
AC,
The point here is not about net declared assets, but the statement by Bassa that a representative of Pure Triumph had stated it was "because Action was too small".
Filed accounts don't tell the full story- after all Triumph Motorcycles themselves declared a loss for many years. It is unlikely that the Guy (or Lady?) at Pure did not access a credit reference service before making the statement, so again, the inference is that they have some kind of inside knowledge of the facts- or of course it could just be rumours and assumptions.
If the net figures for Autohaus are the Group totals, with four separate premises, (two of them major car franchises including fleet) and soon to be five I would expect that any less capital assetts than that would be a problem from a cash flow point of view.
However often premises are not included in assetts, are owned separately, and are then leased by the business owners back to the companies, so as I say, looking at net assetts are not the total story.
The reason for the split between Action and Triumph I am sure is more complex than the size or viability of their business. If they were not viable, then Triumph themselves would have cut the ties, and it seems this was not the case.
Triumph have a very clear cut business plan for the UK, and if the dealers within their network do not agree or follow it, then it is likely that they are replaced with one that will. It remains to be seen whether this plan is in the best interest of the customers.
Views on this will always be split, but I firmly believe that to lose high reputation dealers rather than listen to their views is crazy.
For the Dealers that choose to go, there will always be other options- Triumph are not the only Big Fish in the Sea.
For those that choose to remain with them I am sure they will also give it their best shot.
Good luck to them all.
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Thomas Brightwell
Midlands,
United Kingdom
Posts: 3
Enthusiast
29 Jul 2008 16:18 |
Single Make Shops
Oops, forgot BMW!
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Christopher Smash
Redditch,
United Kingdom
Posts: 1
Speed Triple 955i (02-04)
05 Aug 2008 09:57 |
The problem with Triumph is that they now have an ex Volkswagen marketing genius in charge who probably can't even ride a bike and thinks that they can impose car dealership rules and restrictions on motorcycle dealers. Steve has probably found out that the only way to make a small fortune out of selling bikes is to start with a large one, and with all the incremental profit areas such as accessories being controlled by Triumph he's left with no jam on his bread. Before you know it they'll be insisting dealers sell purely Triumph used bikes as well so they'll have to trade their part exchanges for someone else to make their profit. If this is the way they're going, how long before Knotts have to throw in the towel? The man in charge at Triumph has got his instruction manual out and he's at page 2 - "How to screw up your dealer network with no thought for your customers".
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