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I really like Triumph, but I can tell you hands down the price is what sold it. I could not get a used Indian or Harley used for what I paid for the Rocket new.
This is great for the buyer but very bad for the dealers and Triumph.
It's called channel stuffing when manufacturers make dealers take more vehicles than they can realistically sell for a profit. Remember your dealer is paying for every unsold new bike they have in inventory, every month. Some manufacturers consider a vehicle "sold" when a dealer takes delivery not when a retail buyer purchases the unit. On unpopular models dealers of course get as few as they can and often trade with other dealers if they have a buyer for a specific model that is not in stock, this is popular with new car dealers but I doubt there is enough profit in a bike to pay for the often long distance shipping cost. Then there is distressed stock from failed dealers or ones that have decided to drop the franchise which can be picked up for a fraction of the cost.
Triumph is not publicly traded so they aren't required to provide detailed quarterly reports. The fourth quarter report from Polaris had a clue of trouble in that they bragged of increased number of bikes sold but made even less profit than the previous year, that's unsustainable and it didn't take long to find out what action Polaris would take to stop the bleeding.
Last edited by outerbanks; 02/01/2017 6:22 AM.
