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Brammo Building a Dealer Network – Hires Jim Marcolina from Harley-Davidson

By Jensen Beeler 06/08/2011 6 Comments

It seems like only two months ago that I wrote that the “Great Distribution Experiment is Over“, and that electric motorcycle companies Brammo and Zero Motorcycles need to get on-board with established motorcycle distribution methods. As I mentioned in what I’m sure many found to be a snooze fest of an article, there are of course drawbacks and flaws to the dealership model, but for early-stage cash-strapped companies like the ones in the E2V market, this is a battle of the middleman is best to be fought another day.

I have to apologize to my regular readers, as I’m sure the relevancy of such an article to your daily “eat, sleep, ride” lifestyle was dubious at best, but from time-to-time the words on this site are meant for a select group, but better aired publicly (even if it does land me in a heap of trouble from time-to-time). As such, it’s refreshing to see then that Zero has recently announced its signing of several key dealerships, and now we get word that Brammo has hired Jim Marcolina away from Harley-Davidson, to build the Ashland, Oregon company’s dealer development team. So…umm…group hug?

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News

Bajaj Continues to Gobble Up KTM Stock

By Jensen Beeler 05/16/2011 1 Comment

Bajaj’s appetite for KTM stock seems to be never-ending, though slow in digestion, as the Indian company has acquired another 1.21% of the Austrian motorcycle maker. Gobbling up shares from other minority holders on the open market, Bajaj now has a 39.3% interest in KTM, while majority shareholder CROSS continues with its 50.1% stake.

CROSS has made it clear it intends is to remain the majority shareholder, and has no plans of selling-out its position to the Indian company (or has it?). So, no corporate takeovers just yet, but a continuation of an interesting move by Bajaj in investing with KTM.

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Banter

Video: Casey Stoner Helps Hock Some Hondas

By Jensen Beeler 05/09/2011 7 Comments

It’s been a while since we had a motorcycle advert to critique, but with the thawing of winter’s ice, we should have a plethora of videos to show in the coming motorcycle friendly months. First up for the new riding season is Honda with this CBR1000RR ad that features MotoGP star Casey Stoner, and what appropriately looks to be Oz’s Repsol Honda Casey Stoner race replica that he is riding.

As far as motorcycle marketing goes, this clip is a pretty good effort by Honda Australia. Star GP rider, good production quality, and a demand generation focus all make for a compelling advert. Honda will need all the help it can get though, as it’s hard to sell the same bike that’s been out for four years, albeit with some fresh paint and some minor tweaks here and there.

In a market segment where dyno graphs and high-tech gizmos rule the sales sheet, here’s to hoping that quality in adverts can make up for quantity on the dynamometer in the Land of Kangaroos. Check it out after the jump and let us know what you think.

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News

Changes in Ducati North America Management

By Jensen Beeler 05/03/2011 2 Comments

More management changes at Ducati North America, as Dominique Cheraki has taken on the newly created position of General Manager, to help CEO Cristiano Silei in the day-to-day duties of running Ducati’s US, Canada, and Mexico operations.

It’s been our understanding that Silei has been filling-in with his interim-CEO duties from Italy, so Cheraki’s appointment should put some direct leadership on US soil, and help fill the day-to-day operations at Ducati North America. This announcement also means that Cristiano Silei will be DNA’s full-time CEO, and no longer an interim role for the Italian.

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News

Hero Motors to Build Gearboxes for BMW Worldwide

By Jensen Beeler 05/03/2011 9 Comments

Hero Motors has just inked a deal with BMW that sees the Indian motorcycle manufacturer building gearboxes for the Bavarian brand not only in the Indian market, but also worldwide. The five to eight year deal will see Hero building gearboxes for BMW on a variety of motorcycles, and we presume scooters, though which models exactly remains to be seen.

The news is a boon for the Indian motorcycle manufacturing industry, as it adds further credence to the country’s technical prowess. The deal is also beneficial for BMW as well, as the German company will not only be able to build its bikes for cheaper, but we’re sure BMW is gaining a foothold on the lucrative Indian market from the transaction as well. BMW currently imports fully-built motorcycles into India, but with this news, we see that business practice changing in the near future.

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News

Honda Q1 2011 Sales Up 13% – Revenue Down 3%

By Jensen Beeler 04/28/2011 No Comments

It would seem the motorcycle industry has found the bottom of the recession, with first quarter sales in 2011 showing 7% growth over 2010’s numbers here in the United States. Ducati has already posted strong numbers for Q1 2011, and BMW is posting its best quarterly results ever. Even Harley-Davidson is showing some signs of life with a 3.5% sales increase so far this year. However the good news does not extend to Japanese behemoth Honda Motor Co.’s motorcycle division.

Selling 300,000 more units in the past three months than it did in Q1 of 2010, Honda’s 12.7% sales growth was not enough add more to the top line (and bottom line) compared to last year’s financial figures. Seeing a 3% drop in revenue, one can surmise that while Honda is selling more units in 2011, those units sales are coming from cheaper models, presumably scooters, and not from pricier full size models.

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News

How Does Polaris View the Indian Acquisition?

By Jensen Beeler 04/25/2011 8 Comments

Polaris released some interesting info this past week to its stockholders, perhaps the highlight of which was how the Minnesota-based company views its acquisition of the Indian Motorcycle brand. Disclosing a brief summary of its plans, it’s clear that Polaris aims to go after the heavy-cruiser segment with a two-pronged approach, much in the same manner as we postulated back on Wednesday after news of the acquisition broke.

More important than stroking our own egos, two pieces of interesting insight came from Polaris’s SEC filing 8-K filing. First was a glimpse into what the purchasing price of Indian could be, as a slide to investors shows Indian’s 2010 revenue as being $11 million, which would peg a baseline asking price of about $9 million, though the perceived brand value could raise that price. The second juicy morsel is how Polaris sees Indian fitting in with Victory, showing the potential of tripling Polaris’s motorcycle sales in the future.

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News

Jesse James Starts New Media Production Company

By Jensen Beeler 04/22/2011 21 Comments

Jesse James, the man we love to hate, is back in the news today with reports that his Payupsucker Productions, Inc. has teamed-up with Circle King Networks to create El Jefe Entertainment, a motor sports enthusiasts focused production company. While James has always been regarded as a true artisan in the craft of motorcycle fabrication, his true spotlight of fame came from his media savvy in leveraging his name and creating shows like Monster Garage and Jesse James is a Dead Man.

El Jefe Entertainment’s goal is to “develop, produce and distribute exciting, authentic motor-sport based and car enthusiast entertainment,” and will be focusing with movies and products that will be available on DVD, Pay Per View, as well as direct and mobile formats.

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Opinion/Editorial

The Indian Gambit – Polaris Puts Harley-Davidson on Notice

By Jensen Beeler 04/20/2011 27 Comments

Before yesterday afternoon, I had a hard time getting excited about Polaris. I think they make snowmobiles…but I’m not sure. This is how engaged with their brands I was, but of course this has all changed with the news that Polaris Industries, Inc. has acquired Indian Motorcycle for still undisclosed terms. Covering the business strategy side of motorcycling for the past two and a half years, I can tell you that there are few moves or decisions that strike me as truly inspired, but that events of the past 24 hours are surly Mensa-worthy.

Before I can talk about Polaris and Indian, I have to talk about another motorcycle company: Harley-Davidson. Kingdoms are fated to topple, but looking at Harley-Davdion and its dominance in the American motorcycle scene, let alone in popular culture, the legacy of the Milwaukee company seems assured to endure the test of time. So many companies have tried to be the next Harley, and all of their failures reinforce that concept that no company does “Harley” better than Harley-Davidson. Virtually creating the the legacy cruiser segment, and Harley-Davidson’s success in this regard is also the double-edged sword that is slowly prostrating the Milwaukee brand.

If I had to give one piece of advice to a company wanting to compete with Harley-Davidson, it would be real simple: don’t. Seemingly at the risk of painting itself into a corner, Harley-Davidson has refined its marketing message so thoroughly that it has honed in on a particular type of rider, and exhibits such a distinct persona of motorcycling that the company’s identity has found itself heading full-speed down a one-way street of branding. Thus the low-hanging fruit of competing with Harley-Davidson is to go after the brand where it cannot go.

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News

Polaris Acquires Indian Motorcycle

By Jensen Beeler 04/19/2011 14 Comments

Polaris Industires has just announced its acquisition of the historic Indian Motorcycle company. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but the deal sees one of the most historic names in American motorcycling finding a home with a major player in the motorcycle industry. The move is an interesting one for Polaris, as the company already owns cruiser and touring motorcycle manufacturer Victory Motorcycles.

According to the company press release, Indian will function as an autonomous business unit, but will likely gett help from Polaris’s engineering department, along with the obvious supply chain and purchasing power of the larger brand.

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News

Harley-Davidson Q1 2011 Earnings up 350%

By Jensen Beeler 04/19/2011 3 Comments

Before the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange, Harley-Davidson posted its first quarter numbers of 2011 this morning. Despite earnings being up 350% when compared to Q1 of 2010, Harley-Davidson is showing only a modest turnaround compared to its competitors, as worldwide sales are only up 3.5% compared to last year’s. Still, the company has to be pleased with being back in the black, as Harley-Davidson reported over $119 million in profits (Harley-Davidson made $33.3 million in Q1 2010).

The reason for the less enthusiastic news is because these positive numbers were fueled by the company’s financial services division, which is finally posting profits after nearly collapsing the company during the recession, instead of an increase in bike sales. While Harley-Davidson is touting a 155% revenue increase from the HDFS side of accounting books, it goes without saying that when one does barely any financing in 2010, it’s easy to post results like this. Furthermore, future HDFS financial success is pegged to new Harley-Davidson motorcycle sales, which still show a bleak future.

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