Before long, your local dealer will be a thing of the past it seems...

[scottmastrocinque]

So a handful of Mega dealerships around the world is supposed to build the Piaggio brands? I don't think so. What riders need is a reasonable distance between dealers, not a big megalopolis store only in a major metropolitan city.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why Piaggio cannot grasp this concept. I think it is because the people making these decisions are NOT RIDERS. They do not understand what goes through a rider's mind when they contemplate the purchase of a new motorcycle.

Ease and access of a reliable dealer network is a critical component, not some old-school afterthought.

Piaggio Group Opens New MotoPlex in Atlanta | Rider Magazine

The Piaggio Group announced the grand opening of its newest MotoPlex in Atlanta. The retail outlet offers service for Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Piaggio, and Vespa.

ridermagazine.com

 

[john zibell]

BMW has done the same thing. Many of the small good shops were driven out of business by the corporate attitude.

 

[scottmastrocinque]

Yes indeed, and their USA market share has dwindled from its high in the late 1990's and early 2000's.

 

[Sempervee1]

Having dealerships close by is what kept me so long in Harley Davidson. I always knew if I screwed up what I was working on I could always get parts or take it in. (Owned 14 Harleys over the years and often bought a new one just before the warranty ran out as I lived on my bike commuting 100 miles a day in SoCal to work + riding for fun on weekends and trips!. Why Piaggio has not partnered up with bigger corporations to put more bikes out there with more support is unconcionable. “Improve or die.” Every business must continually improve its customer value proposition ...

 

[V700Steve]

I won't be going to Douglasville any time soon. They do have all the farkly new clothes though. Wrong side of Atl for me.
They will sell bikes if they come off the price some otherwise they'll close. Hope they send the Tech doing the work to CostaMesa and not the owner going.

 

[William H.]

Huh, Just over a hour away from me. I might just have to take a ride over there JUST to say that I've visited a official Moto Guzzi dealership ( hope they have pins )

 

[Ralph Glorioso]

Guzzi enthusiasts of some years will remember how Piaggio early in its USA operations "lost" some wonderful, old dealerships by insisting that dealers having Guzzi franchises or wanting one had to accept the entire line of bikes controlled by Piaggio. Some of these makes were duds in the US market and some existing dealers quit selling Guzzis or declined to accept Piaggio's multi-line mandate.

Ralph

 

[scottmastrocinque]

BMW did the exact opposite, insisting that dealers that had other brands, drop them in order to keep BMW. That backfired in their stupid faces.

 

[Sempervee1]

Yup, Before my Guzzi dealer in Spokane closed I often checked with parts I was waiting on and quipped "Are you still waiting for tony to swim across the pond with the parts on his back?" Piaggio was impossible to deal with when it came to warranty.

 

[V700Steve]

It's a Boutique shop concept. In fact the shop in the vid is not in Douglassville, GA but in Canada. Look at address on building.
Social Medea B/S, I'd rather go to an old Mom & Pop shop that are dying out.

 

[jackthebiker]

I am in north central Wisconsin and I just bought a new 2022 V85tt from a dealer 200 miles away. I can accept the fact that Guzzi dealers may only be in big cities because of the volume of sales needed to be profitable. But how about service centers being located in small independent shops?

 

[john zibell]

I am in north central Wisconsin and I just bought a new 2022 V85tt from a dealer 200 miles away. I can accept the fact that Guzzi dealers may only be in big cities because of the volume of sales needed to be profitable. But how about service centers being located in small independent shops?

I believe there are service centers in other countries. The problem for small independent shops is the cost of training and the needed factory diagnostic software support. You would need a considerable amount of bike work to justify the expense.

 

[Raven]

With the huge numbers of new members introducing themselves on this forum, it looks like MG is growing in popularity. Maybe it's time Piaggio showed a bit of support.

 

[jackthebiker]

I believe there are service centers in other countries. The problem for small independent shops is the cost of training and the needed factory diagnostic software support. You would need a considerable amount of bike work to justify the expense.

It should cost the independent shops nothing. All necessary software and tools should be supplied by Guzzi free to increase their sales. The shops make money on the service. Even if its only a few a year. No service center should be within 100 miles of a dealer.

 

[Bill Meyer]

I switched from my Royal Enfield Interceptor to a V7III in large part because my town has a long time Guzzi dealer with a fine reputation for service. The Enfield dealer was a satellite shop of a huge multi-brand store down in Phoenix and as such treated Enfields like some throw-away loss leader.

I don't think my dealer cares much for the Piaggio "regime" but they absolutely do care about their customers. What a concept.

 

[scottmastrocinque]

No dealer cares for any manufacturer. It’s an adversarial relationship at best.

Back when I started in the BMW dealership world, we had a 15% margin on a new MSRP motorcycle, and a 3% “holdback” that BMW paid to us after the sale of the unit.

A dealership could scratch out a living from that if you were frugal.

Then the margin was lowered year after year, and then the holdback was eliminated. It became a joke.

You could buy T-Bills and make more money from the interest than you could by investing that money in BMW motorcycles and accessories. At least the T-Bill notes are fully insured and the principal and interest are guaranteed.

It just boils down to GREED. Every manufacturer is obsessed with it.

 

[john zibell]

It should cost the independent shops nothing. All necessary software and tools should be supplied by Guzzi free to increase their sales. The shops make money on the service. Even if its only a few a year. No service center should be within 100 miles of a dealer.

Unfortunately that is now how manufactures function. Every dealership, motorcycle or automobile, has to pay for the equipment, software, and yearly software maintenance fees. A friend of mine runs an independent car repair business. For one software package alone his yearly fee is 20 grand, and he has to have several software suites for the multi brand repair shop.

 

[jackthebiker]

Unfortunately that is now how manufactures function. Every dealership, motorcycle or automobile, has to pay for the equipment, software, and yearly software maintenance fees. A friend of mine runs an independent car repair business. For one software package alone his yearly fee is 20 grand, and he has to have several software suites for the multi brand repair shop.

I realize that, but I am saying if Moto Guzzi wants to increase sales in the US, they need to do something.

 

[scottmastrocinque]

I realize that, but I am saying if Moto Guzzi wants to increase sales in the US, they need to do something.

What most people do not realize here is that the amount of motorcycles that the factory can produce per year, is just about capped out. I doubt that they will be able to increase production capacity at Mandello, nor would they really want to. They build what they can build and they sell everything they build. For the most part, Moto Guzzi is chugging along like it should and exactly how they want it to.

 

[Ralph Glorioso]

Not always a hardscrabble existence to be a dealer. In 1965, I went to work as a mechanic for the just-opened Heyser Honda of Laurel, MD. The Honda franchise cost $6000 then and a bank loan provided that, but no more. Tom Heyser couldn't get the approximately $1000 that a BSA dealership cost, so I lent him that amount from my savings. In 1968 alone, we sold over 2000 new motorcycles (almost all Hondas) and the shop was doing very well, indeed. We expanded greatly to a new location in Laurel on US-1 and had a very large shop built to handle not only Honda and BSA but Velocette, Yamaha, Montesa and later Kawasaki, as well as Honda Power Sports. The BSA and Velocette franchises were secured for emotional reasons, only. We liked British bikes, warts and all. There was no profit involved. We employees were paid well and got anything the shop sold at shop cost. Our markup on Hondas was 18% over the Port of Entry (POE) cost and I was kept hopping doing most of the set up work on new Hondas. Given our very high sales volume, we had very good relations with American Honda. The shop sponsored Tom Heyser as a Can Am driver, campaigning a Lotus Can-Am car and later a Lotus Formula 5000 all over the USA.

Heyser Cycle (as it became known) had 11 total staff in 1965 with Tom and Dalles Heyser and 9 employees. 8 of us still are living and maintain regular contact. Tom is now retired but Heyser Cycle remains in business, managed by Tom's son, Will Heyser. It was always known as a happy shop and our customers picked up on that. The "bloom is off the rose" now in regard to the shop's sales volume and the marvelous sales frenzy of the 1960s has faded greatly. Now, it not an easy time to be a motorcycle dealer.

Ralph