Whoever takes it on will have to consider the present cost base, premises (location and costs), reduced staff levels, administrative issues, continued cv19 impact, the possibility of a no-deal Brexit and if Ducati are up for sale what impact a new brand owner will have from an operational and commercial POV. Lots to think about.
Ducati UK need to think carefully at how many dealerships the Manchester company are running IMHO. If they went pop, Ducati UK would be in serious shit.
Ducati Worcester are in an old unit which has been revamped, I’m sure it was once a Little Chef? I spoke to the dealer as to why there’s no cafe, planning permission wouldn’t allow him a cafe!! The building had been empty for years so you’d think planning would let him have what he wanted? He even struggled to get planning for the boundary fencing!!!
It may have been at one time, it’s been a few things. It was almost derelict so a little strange planning was strict
https://www.dmcbirmingham.co.uk/ selling KTM’s now maybe the future after the recent new model reveals
I live in a fairly central London suburb and now my nearest Ducati dealer has moved to 40 miles away. I have Yamaha/Honda/Suzuki/Triumph/Kawazaki dealerships all within 6 milesof my house, doubt my next bike will be a Ducati.
I wouldn't be surprised to see them selling ducati the owners name is claudio tamburini so will tell you his heritage he's irish/Italian and kept a 996r under his stairs for years!! A big ducati fan when he lived here!
I totally agree, both on the liking a smaller less sterile showroom with a chipped mug (but I would prefer coffee over tea), and a belief we aren’t the target audience anymore. I wonder if the fall out from CV19 will make large corporations reassess their demands for the large showrooms with clauses about their brand needing separate areas and all the rest of the daft selfish self indulgent expensive ideas that (in my opinion) add so many costs that dealers are faced with that makes their precious brand undesirable/ unaffordable/ unsellable? A bike sold from a small independent dealer is still a bike sold...
The Manchester model isn't self funded. If you look at Companies House, the funding of their stock is by an outside finance company who hold security over all the bikes they sell.
Stocking loans are a standard method of operating in the motor trade, most medium to large scale dealerships and groups operate that way, nothing to be worried about, its all a magic roundabout and only goes belly up when it stops turning ....
