Triumphrat

dave_bee

I have received a letter this morning (12th Nov) from Bransons the Triumph dealer in Gloucester (and Yeovil) to say they are relinquishing the franchise to Blade Motor Group of Cheltenham come early 2006.

Bit of a shame as Bransons have given me good quality of service all round. I wonder if Triumph UK have made demands of the dealer to which they cannot meet. Bransons say they will do warranty work till March 2006, I still will be taking my T100 to them for service provided the same mechanics are there.

Bransons are a bike shop, they are motorcycle people. Blade Motor Group are just that, car people, the VW brand. I don't want to be associated with the VW brand, let alone be treated like a failed Golf GTi driver!?? Of course I would hope they wouldn't do that.


oh well.

Nelson955

Triumph do seem to be going the BMW route with their push for a corporate look at their dealers. I believe there is a mock up at Hinckley of a showroom the way Triumph want them to look.

Where this leaves dealers like Boyer Racing in London I don't know. Boyer's have an old fashioned look, its very distinctive to them, but their level of service, expertise and experience is second to none (in my opinion). Give me a showroom that has a bit of character which is staffed by knowledgeable sales people backed up by an excellent team of mechanics any day.

One suggestion to Triumph on how to improve the brand instead of fannying around trying to achieve the "corporate look":-

Employ people in the warranty department who know how to deal with their customers and who will investigate problems properly instead of trying to fob customers off by telling them they were failing to clean their bikes properly.

dave_bee

seems like we might be back in business. Last night (Thurs 16th Feb) I went to the opening night at the new Triumph dealer in Cheltenham, Glos.

Indeed they are "a part of the Blade motor group" - who I do know to be very good with this type of business. I also hear the owners are into bikes too, so there is hope.

I guess only time will tell, hope it works out, I figure if the guys from Blade can't make it work then no one can!

Mr Bloor was there, I suggest he might need to think about what he says. The UK is not the big market for us as it only represents 18% of our sales. Which can be translated as, you UK buyers don't matter much. Charming!

Anyway I'm sure it wasn't meant like that.

Good on the new owners, free drinks and snacks. Both very good quality, thanks for that.

There was a good turnout too, the place was full, really was and it's not a small shop either.

The site was previously a top of the range car dealer and just for fun there was an Aston Martin and Porsche (and Merc) in a corner. The Aston was nice.
I think there is a connection with "Performance Cars" shop too, hence the cars.

Steve Parrish was there, he is a good speaker!


It was a good evening, thanks to all concerned.


:chug: