beermonster said:
You might take the view that the current demand for GS's means that they do not have to try and offer attractive PX deals, however that sort of market can be fickle. Might prove to be a short sighted strategy if demand falls, after all longstanding customers might not appreciate being taken for granted.
The only contra to that consideration is that BMW dealers are on stock control by BMW. They are allocated bikes regardless of their needs or what they expect that they can sell.
They also have to take bikes from BMW that are very unlikely to sell (C1, the Cruiser series, etc). Those are not taken on a "sales or return basis" by the dealers, BMW allocates them the bikes and then takes the money, the dealer takes the pain.
If demand is high and they have sold their years allocation or a customer wants a bike in a particular month, or in a colour immediately then the only way the dealer can get the bike is by attempting a swap with another BMW dealer. When that is against a popular model then the dealer has no flexibility.
BMW control and reporting is very strict and high.
That does not mean that the approach is right but it is the model that BMW are following from the car sector. Honda would love to operate the same model but is in a different market segment.
Perhaps BMW will learn that if they are to increase model sales and bring in a new customer base then that customer base will not necessarily accept their current marketing approach.
On non BMW p/x's, note how quickly they disappear off a BMW dealers showroom floor, most are not sold to customers of the BMW dealer but are shifted by resell within the trade. That means that the BMW dealer is not actually making any money on the non BMW p/x. The ability to move the p/x on quickly is one of the reasons why there is a preoccupation with "average mileage" on p/x's. All dealers work off the same guide book and the Multistrada is not that popular, high mileage bikes are also difficult to shift quickly to non BMW dealers.
For a dealer like SSB, having no significant volume of non BMW dealers nearby means they also have to take into account the shipping cost of the p/x. All impacts a very low margin that BMW allows the dealer on new bikes.
Very few BMW dealers have anything but a handful of non BMW secondhand bikes.
Hi just bought 1150 GS Adventure from Southport Superbikes ,I have spoken to Roy and Mike the owners on many occasions over the years and they are always keen to let you take a bike out for a test ride,not just up the road but for a half day or more if your really keen, as for Danny and Steve the techies they are great guys Danny is so enthusiastic and helpfull And Steve is really nice guy too he spent ages explaining how everything works including roadside assistence etc,so its cheers guys i am well pleased with you service and of course my new BMW.Neil in Preston.
