- Sat Jul 21, 2018 12:30 pm
#78455
Since I purchased my CGT, a year ago last April, several local dealers have lost their RE franchise. Firstly, the dealer where I bought my CGT from lost it a few months later, stating that the owner didn't like the product. His words were, to them, along the lines of "the CGT is great, but didn't think much of the Bullet". The response, some time later was that, "sorry to see you don't like our products, etc, etc", or something like that. It turns out that over the, roughly, year leading up to that point they had only sold four RE's. They sell several different makes of bikes and scooters, most of which are cheaper than eve RE's, so guess which ones they sell the most of? The business seems to sell mainly to the younger generation and those needing transport to get to work it seems.
I was rather annoyed about their loss of franchise as my next RE was likely to come from them, but there was another, even closer dealer, but they lost the franchise too, it is said because RE wanted them to stock one of each of all the models that they made at the time, and, by different models, with the Bullet/Classic, that probably means all the different colours, which is quite a cost, both in money and space, for a small dealer.
Sometime later I hear that Midlands RE had lost theirs too, but I'm yet to hear anything, hearsay or otherwise, as to why.
Then we come to my Himalayan purchase, not from the Stafford dealer, but they do seem to sell quite a few RE's and have quite a nice display going on. It's not quite a corporate image, but perhaps halfway there. They have the space to have more stock and do such things. As far as I know they still have the franchise, but due to previously mentioned issues I bought my Himalayan from the closest dealer to me. I didn't want to due to past experiences, but so far all o.k. When discussing the recent (ish) loss of franchises they told me that they would only take on the RE franchise if there were no other dealers in the area, and in stating their case said, "otherwise you'll loose a lot of sales".
I don't know how many Bullets/Classics they have sold, but from early March to mid April this year they had sold 15 Himalayans.
Some of the above is hearsay, but putting 2 and 2 together and priobaly making 5 (wink), it does seem to read like some lame excuses have been used to remove some franchises to perhaps benefit one???
Chris.
I was rather annoyed about their loss of franchise as my next RE was likely to come from them, but there was another, even closer dealer, but they lost the franchise too, it is said because RE wanted them to stock one of each of all the models that they made at the time, and, by different models, with the Bullet/Classic, that probably means all the different colours, which is quite a cost, both in money and space, for a small dealer.
Sometime later I hear that Midlands RE had lost theirs too, but I'm yet to hear anything, hearsay or otherwise, as to why.
Then we come to my Himalayan purchase, not from the Stafford dealer, but they do seem to sell quite a few RE's and have quite a nice display going on. It's not quite a corporate image, but perhaps halfway there. They have the space to have more stock and do such things. As far as I know they still have the franchise, but due to previously mentioned issues I bought my Himalayan from the closest dealer to me. I didn't want to due to past experiences, but so far all o.k. When discussing the recent (ish) loss of franchises they told me that they would only take on the RE franchise if there were no other dealers in the area, and in stating their case said, "otherwise you'll loose a lot of sales".
I don't know how many Bullets/Classics they have sold, but from early March to mid April this year they had sold 15 Himalayans.
Some of the above is hearsay, but putting 2 and 2 together and priobaly making 5 (wink), it does seem to read like some lame excuses have been used to remove some franchises to perhaps benefit one???
Chris.
