Ducati dealer going out of business

[Raux]

found this searching for deals

http://www.corsesuperbikes.com/default.asp

OCT 31. they close up shop.

[mitt]

Yep it sucks, and was discussed here a little bit

http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=29903.0


mitt

[Duki09]

I wonder if in some areas of the country that the Ducati brand itself doesn't appeal to riders or if all motorcycle sales are low in those areas compared to other states where there are more Ducati dealers.

Population, climate, income may effect the amount of Ducati businesses.
If you live in some low population farm town in some cold weather state, my guess is that you won't see much Ducati dealers compared to that of Los Angeles.

Just by looking at the Ducati dealer map, where I live in Phoenix,AZ there are 3 Ducati dealers and another in Tucson.

Next door in California there are a gazillion Ducati dealers. Well, maybe not a gazillion, but alot.

In the more central and northern states like North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska  there are no Ducati dealers listed.

Then you'll see a better selection of Ducati dealers in the east coast states.

[mitt]

There is enough interest and enough income in the Midwest, but some dealers just don't make it for what ever reason, and part of it is the length of riding season.  I had heard, no idea if it is true, that Corse only made a profit 3 months out of the year.  That is 9 months of downtime time on a huge well staffed dealership.

The tiny Ducati dealer in Iowa, who has been in business since Ducati came back to the US, has made it in part with very low overhead and supplemental income on KTM dirt bikes, and he is a great person / mechanic / dealer.

mitt

[vwboomer]

Corse picked up suzuki in an attempt to actually make some money a couple years back. KTMs, Ducati's, MV's etc are nice, but very expensive.

[woodyracing]

yeah they've been dropping like flies lately, I've been told by multiple people that Pure Ducati in Ft Lauderdale, FL closed up for good a couple months ago (their site is still up for some reason)

[jasaretta]

Ducati Centre Melbourne (Australia) went in to receivership this month

[WarrenJ]

Corse was a great dealership.  I hold them personally responsible for me riding a Ducati.  I started riding bikes last year and saw a picture of a Sport Classic GT 1000 and thought that was what I wanted.  I went to the dealership and they let newby me take one for a spin.  I was hooked and the salesman and the owner went out of their way to be helpful and informative every time I went there.  I was never able to afford a new GT and am thrilled with the used 750 Monster I found, but they were a class act and will be missed.

Most powersport businesses that operate successfully here need to sell personal watercraft, ATV's and snowmobiles to keep it going through the year.

[jesse370]

we are loosing the only shop in south jersey too.

[Turf]

we are loosing the only shop in south jersey too.

se pa an is losing a ton of dealerships in the next month or two not just duc's. everyone is really hurting. there are rumblings of issues at ferracci (aside from the usual ones), eurosports is hanging in better than most in the area, desimmone is done etc.

[DoubleEagle]

It's very sad that we are loosing local Ducati Dealers , some who have been in business for more than a couple of years.

The bad economy plus the short riding season in the Northern half of the US means these Dealers may go for 4-6 months with very little income but they have to try and hold on to their good Techs and Sales people plus Parts people.
Not to mention the costs they are faced with like paying interest on their floor plans for the new bikes they still have in inventory on the showroom floor and fixed costs like , heat, electric, taxes, etc.

I don't know what most of us who are not mechanically inclined will do if the nearest Ducati Dealer turns out to be , ( at least for a time ) several hours away. How willing will we be to travel 6 hours to get maintenance or parts.

Let's be sure to patronize our Dealers now when we can before they are gone !

Dolph       

[herm]

population density
economics
riding season
...sort of.

we have two here in NH, and i think the rest of the new england states have at least one each.

[WetDuc]

We only got our one dealer in Tallahassee.  Hope he doesn't close!

[gregrnel]

Hopefully the rumor is true and Milwaukee will be getting a dealership this spring. I think if someone did a small, sustainable shop in the downtown/east side area with heavy traffic exposure it would do well.  Saukville, no offense to my northern neighbors but you should have to go to the big city for such luxuries as a Duc dealer.   
How about above the Fuel Cafe?  Scott Johnson are you out there?

I for one, do not want to risk my ass in Chicago traffic to get some maintenance done.

[cduarte]

There are only 2 ducati dealerships left in CT, Gengras in East Hartford, and Cliff's in Brookfield. Canton Cycles and Libby's no longer sell ducati.