Triumphrat

Calliway · 01-12-2008

Well I just got back from the Edmonton International Motorcycle Show. I go every year and last year the Triumph display was really great. It was about 3500sqft and they had everything.

This year, man I have to say I was so dissappointed. I was going to specifically look at the new ST. I went through all the vendor booths in the secondary halls and saw all the new gear and stuff which was great. I then went through the Main Hall which is huge, I mean huge. The Harley area was huge, the BMW site was huge and the Ducati display was amazing. My fiancee now wants a Ducati for herself. An English girl from Liverpool on a Duck... I don't know. Anyway, I looked for the Triumph display and nothing.... Triumph was the only manufacturere who did not have their display ini the main hall. They had a 200 sqft display just outside the main area and all it was was the guys from the local dealer with their junk on display. They didn't even have an ST. They had one Bonnie T100, a used pink America, a orange RIII, an orange Tiger 1050, a special Edition 675, a black S3 and a green Street3. I was so dissappointed. Everyone including the Hyosung had a better display.

Triumph wants to increase North American sales and has targeted NA as their main growth point and they put a crappy display like this on.

I was really dissappointed.

KitNYC · 01-12-2008

Actually, Triumph NA didn't put that on at all, & I'm really curious as to who put on the display you saw last year. '05 was the last year Triumph exhibited at the IMS shows. Supposedly, the piece of the marketing budget that paid for the shows is now being spent on Demo Days.

Wow.... I sat on a Bonnie at the '05 show & fell in love with it. If you had told me then that I'd be riding a 120 horse sportbike now, I would've looked at you like you had 2 heads!

Cheers,
-Kit

PhxMan · 01-12-2008

Calli, Know what you mean, we had the International Motorcycle show here in Phoenix and Triumph was not even there. Major disappointment for me. Believe it or not we actually have 3 Triumph dealerships in the Phoenix area, and none of them had any displays either. All I can guess is that Triumph has different ideas in marketing

PhxMan

DaveM · 01-12-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by KitNYC

Actually, Triumph NA didn't put that on at all, & I'm really curious as to who put on the display you saw last year. '05 was the last year Triumph exhibited at the IMS shows. Supposedly, the piece of the marketing budget that paid for the shows is now being spent on Demo Days.

Wow.... I sat on a Bonnie at the '05 show & fell in love with it. If you had told me then that I'd be riding a 120 horse sportbike now, I would've looked at you like you had 2 heads!

Cheers,
-Kit

I beleive Kit is correct and from memory this came up and was a bit of a hot potatoe here in '06.

My memory is pretty much what Kit has said.
Triumph made some sort of statement saying it's marketing funding was limited (they are still selling record numbers since though) and were allowing that portion of their budget to be available for more demo days and rides as the big International shows were a huge expense for them a relatively small player compared to some of the others.

DaveM

4N099 · 01-12-2008

That makes sense from a low budget marketing standpoint, spend the money getting the bikes out there for people to ride and turn them on to buy instead of making a pretty display and hoping they'll hit a dealer for a test ride.

JohnB · 01-12-2008

I picked up an RS a couple of weeks before the New York show. I went with lots of money in my pocket, looking for a bargain, especially if it was Triumph related. Well there were no bargains, and there was no Triumph stuff. I had a great time none the less, but it was a pity that there wasn't any Triumph dealer there. Guess I'll just have to stick with the internet, and local stealership.

Calliway · 01-12-2008

Wow.... New York, NZ, Aussie... these are all target markets and you would think with a few masterbike wins under their belt now they would want to flaunt it. Really for a brand that is trying to go from 40,000 annual bikes ot 70,000 you have to market the bikes and what makes them unique. Ducati, Aprilla, Victory, Triumph - all niche and boutique bikes that want to go big. Its just to bad because people buy at these shows.

DaveM · 01-12-2008

Triumph is now the top selling European brand and last figures I read about stated it was about to bump No.5 top selling brands off it's perch which is Kawasaki. No mean feat.

DaveM

pelon717 · 01-12-2008

I'm headed to the DC show with some buddies today. I'm kinda bummed there won't be any Triumphs but it should be ok anyway. I went a few years ago and was surprised they weren't there. I talked to the owner of the local dealership and he said pretty much what kit and others have said. The IMS is too much buck for the bang in Triumph's opinion.

I don't know what a manufacturer spends doing the show circuit but it's gotta be huge money. The companies I work for set up at various construction-related trade shows and the costs are really high. (I sign the checks and cringe everytime) The costs seem to be neverending; booth/space, transportation, food and lodging, electric, outlandish union fees if someone even looks at your crates and skids, union fees for some guy to flip a breaker and turn on the electric to your booth, etc...

I certainly would like to see all the bikes and goodies at the show but if demo's are more effective that's fine with me. That's why I ended up buying my RS and why my next new bike will be a Triumph.

googus · 01-12-2008

I posted this topic after I went to the NYC show. I understand the marketing point of view but other dealer also do demo days and you see them there at shows. To me I think it is a bad move when every other dealer under the sun is showcasing their bike and you decide not to show up, speciallt in the BIG market as stated above.

Just my 2cents.
Greg