Ducati insist on their interior design spec being followed to the letter, so a dealer is not allowed to refurbish themselves, even if they can procure exactly the same fixtures and fittings themselves for a much smaller sum. That is unreasonable.
This happens in the car industry too with many dealers walking away from franchises because they can not afford to spend the £ needed to bring the dealership up to the required standard. Also you look to McD - they have their franchise's constantly refresh their premises, new fixtures, fittings, colours etc.. It just a way of maintaining a Global Corporate Brand... something you sign into, agree with or walk away from... This is tougher for the smaller dealers...but unfortunately a way of life.
Don't know so much. Have you ever worked for Italians? I have, and they're cnuts... Italia Moto have always been great with me over the years with spares support. I hope they continue successfully.
It’s not unreasonable but I’d posit that it’s biased / inaccurate. The margins for the dealer on new bikes are very slender and the investment that the franchisor expects the franchisee to make in order to meet the branding criteria (expensive in-showroom displays, number of demo bikes, dressed bikes for display in showroom, volumes of merchandise - JL#99 shirts at £70 a pop didn’t exactly fly off the shelf I’d wager) means that Ducati’s dealer proposition works best for a high volume / low margin business. That model is going to attract the Vindis type franchisee and force the smaller independent into decision like this. Ducati is not a manufacturer with a volume product... even with popular models like the MTS and the Scrambler. And we know from even just this forum that when Ducati’s marketing is slapped on thick and cheesy that even a great bike like the Scrambler gets given the cold shoulder by “real” bikers. Then you looks at areas where Ducati expect frankly unreasonable things from their dealers (ask your local dealer how long it takes to put a full Akra system on a V4 Speciale and how much the dealer is paid for that when the system is fitted as a part of the PDI) and how many dealers they’re adding (Peterborough and Nottingham are not that far from Lincoln really), and having dealers competing for the same pool of predominantly 40-50 something wealthy guys that want to drop £20k on a fine-weather toy must mean that achieving sales targets is even harder? I’m not saying that Ducati don’t have a fine range of products on offer, but the high volume franchise model isn’t IMO going to do the brand any favours in the long term. Even BMW Motorrad typically piggy back on the investment made by a franchisee on a much more balanced (MINI, BMW, Motorrad) portfolio that includes models like the 3 series and GS that sell in high volume, combined with very popular accessories.
And this is very true. And I agree, it's unreasonable. As is charging the franchise shitloads for Ducati signage displays. Almost gangster like... fuckers!
It’s not unreasonable if you want to piggyback and get the benefits Of a successful manufacture with successful products. There is no such thing as a free lunch.....yet people on here seem to think there should be. Very strange.
No one taking on a Ducati franchise gets a free lunch, I can tell you that for nowt. Don't worry, they'll (Ducati) get their bit
I’d rather buy my next Ducati on line....have it delivered to my door along with my supermarket order. Really can’t see a dealer offering any value these days. I’ve got 4 dealers within a 40 mile radius, they’re all exactly the same just a different salesmen who knows no more than me or their website, which is normally where they send you if they don’t know the answer.
While I agree on the Sales side... except for a test ride...having a dealer near for Service or parts is handy...
Agreed. I have a choice of three dealerships.........one is 16 miles away, one is 27 miles away and the other is 35 miles away. All take an hour to get to regardless of the distance. Which is nice if you fancy a pootle out for a nosey but a pain if you have an issue that needs looking at. Ps I go to the one 35 miles away as they have always wanted to do business and have given the best service.
No. As a channel to market and as a franchise there is a cost for the business owner but there should also be opportunity for business success. The misalignment of choosing a high-volume / low-margin channel strategy for a low-volume / low-margin product is what I’m disappointed by. That shows to me that Audi are dictating the channel approach based on their corporate marketing strategy without acknowledging that unlike Audi or Skoda or Seat or VW that can depend upon fleet sales and finance to drive profit in the business at volume their Ducati channel will typically not have fleet as an addressable market and doesn’t have volume either so they need to either make it work pretty much on finance and accessories or rely on used bike sales and other portfolios for the profit once the Ducati badge has drawn punters through the door. It’s unlikely that all of the traditional small and passionate bike dealerships will be happy to effectively become finance brokers so there’ll be attrition. That’s reality, but it sucks. It’s not serving me well as a fan of Ducati rather than a fan of finance / PCP. It’s not rewarding my loyalty or the dealer’s loyalty. It makes Ducati now a rather cynical company driven by accountants rather than engineers. Part of a conglomerate that has a brand role to play. That’s what a business does in 2019. Returning shareholder value doesn’t ignite my passion though.
Same with all dealers. I think it was mentioned earlier that “you need to display X and the cost is £3000” for £100 worth of tat that will be obsolete after that campaign. How is that fair and reasonable and how many bikes must the dealer sell to recover that expense if the margin is only a couple of hundred?
We do not know 100% what is behind this decision. "Ducati's future business strategy is different from ours and we feel that we are not able to follow this path, therefore it is time to change our relationship." Maybe Italia Moto would prefer to remain a customer focused, friendly small business, whilst Ducati would rather have a state of the art showroom, as a clear "statement" of a premium brand. Cannot blame any of the 2 parties. One thing is contouring, when thing are perfect is Ducati' "well doing" when things are wrong is Audi "wrong doing".
Personally I am not a fan of the new type of corporate anything, individuality is a much more appealing trait to me. But there are an awful lot of people who will be more impressed by shiny stuff and a nice coffee machine than by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable set of staff, whatever the product. I was in one of the shiny new dealerships recently, I popped in as a niece had moved close by and I was helping move her furniture in. While I was in the store a potential customer came in. He was a young man in his late 20`s I`d guess, he drove a very expensive car in to the car park and proceeded to ask about buying a 959 and wanted to know if one would be available in 2 weeks as he was about to take his test. He was interested in pcp and wanted to know the costs based on 300 miles a year. Not 300 miles in one week but in the whole year. I`m not saying if this is good or bad or if the potential customer is a twat or not but I`m pretty sure he is a wonderful customer for the "brand" as they sell an expensive bike on pcp and get it back in a couple of years , barely run in and ready to sell again. I`ll stick to secondhand bikes from enthusiastic specialists or previous owners. If everyone was like me though there would be no secondhand bikes for people like me to buy in a few years. I`d prefer Ducati kept dealers like Italia Moto but its not my bat & ball to play with .
It is not unreasonable for the manufacturer to require a certain standard of shop fitting and have a common branding theme in a retail environment, but what is unreasonable is that Ducati do, or certainly did require the purchasing of said items to be done via certain sources. Take tiles for instance. I could get the exact same tiles for about 30% less than the dealer was being charged, insisting on a dealer literally wasting money is unreasonable in my opinion.
