Ducati dealerships closing?

[rockaduc]

Here is North west Jersey, Jack Trebour has cut their sales force to 1 or 2 guys, parts to 1 guy, and service down to just Joe and about 3 techs.  They sell Ducs, MV, Suzuki, and Triumph motos.

[IZ]

Any insight into Ducati Austin's business or lack there of?!

There aren't too many dealerships (that I've found) around Austin.  That's good and bad. 

Ducati made their move up north next door to H-D and a Yamakawazuki place last year. 

I'm sure the move was/will be for the better. 

[Raux]

Well not that they're in trouble (at least not as far as I know), but my local dealer has decided that after 20 years of Ducati , they won't be an official Ducati dealer anymore. My guess is that in order to be considered an official dealer you must buy at least x number of models per year from the factory (which they probably didn't think would be a good idea in the current economic situation) or they where forced to go more in the direction of a Ducati Store (more Ducati apparel etc.) which wasn't the direction they wanted to go in. Now they only sell Aprillia and Bimota.

i think to be an 'official' Ducati dealer/store you cannot sell other marques.

[z0mb1e_DUC]

Both Seacoast in Derry, NH, & Riverside Moto in Sommerville, Ma, sell other makes, & they are both "official".  Seacoast also sell Aprilla, & Riverside does Triumph & Kawi.

[Raux]

yeah but they aren't named Ducati Derry or Ducati Sommerville. you can only use that if you sell only ducati. (AFAIK)

[swampduc]

Don't know the technical requirements for being a "Ducati store", but Transportation Revolution in NO sells Duc, Triumph, and Vespa, and DNA refers to them as Ducati New Orleans in letters to me.

IZ, I was reasonably impressed with Duc Austin when I saw the showroom back in 8/08. I took my 696 there for its 1st service. I hope they're doing well.

[NAKID]

Scottsdale Ducati sells other marques in their store in AZ...

[flyinlow]

You can sell other brands and be an official Ducati Dealer.

The key to selling high end bikes successfully (this is true for all of them except HD) is that you have to have product line that covers all the price ranges. Most of the dealerships that have been listed so far in this post that are struggling have higher end or higher priced products (Aprilia, Bimoto, Triumph to an extent). You have to also have a couple of cheaper brands (the four japanese manufacturers) as well in order to have a successful dealership. You also have to have product variety, cruisers, sport bikes, standards, retros, touring as well as product diversity, ATV's, dirt bikes, street bikes and you need to run a pretty good used business.

If you look at all the dealerships that are successful it is because they have variety in their product lines. If they are only a one or two brand store, then they have to have a pretty small staff, which leads to the service issues that some people have expressed.