Triumphrat

Scrambler900 · 07-12-2007, 06:17 PM

An area Triumph salesman told me some insider news that he said came from a national sales manager, as follows:

The new 675cc Street Triple will be limted to a production shipment to the USA of just 400 bikes in 2007-2008 for the country's 2,000 total Triumph dealerships. This dealer said he'd be lucky to see one, and the factory and dealership profit margins will be so thin on this model anyway that he wouldn't make any money on it if he had one to sell. He understands the factory wants the 675cc Street Triple to be a loss leader model to just get people into the dealerships to see the bike in the first place, and that Triumph much prefers to sell the 1050cc Sprint and Speed Triple models. (But given the glowing press reports about the Street Triple, I believe Triumph will see strong sales demand and will need to increase production in the model's second year. Triumph is obviously very cautious about making too many of this model before the actual market demand is known).

Second, this Triumph dealer said that in September 2007 at the national Las Vegas dealership convention, the factory will unveil a new 1,500cc twin cruiser, water cooled and with fuel injection, that will look rather like a beefed up Speedmaster or America. It may be called a Thunderbird.

Interesting news, that is said to come directly from a Triumph insider.

S4L · 07-12-2007, 08:13 PM

Sounds good to me, I most certainly would be interested. Hope this is true

JasonS · 07-12-2007, 09:31 PM

The limited production of 400 sounds fishy to me... you don;t turn down sales, and given the rabid response it seems unlikely Triumph couldn't just mark it up, make a ton of them and profit quiet nicely, thank you very much as I run to the bank...

I think the rumor has more to do with a great way to get people all puckered up about limited production.... months later they will announce a production increase due to overwhelming demand...

A Big Vtwin? Aren't there enough big VTwins? Isn't that market full up? I ask beacause it seems that way to me, but I've got nothing but a sense of it...

I'd say that Triumph have become good at intentional leak marketing to befuddle the masses, create rumor, mislead anmd get lots of press... I hope they surprise us in some way..

Diego · 07-12-2007, 09:37 PM

The dealer's reasoning has flaws with regard to the Street Triple. That's one thing I always hate about rumors.

It won't get anybody into the showrooms if only about 1 in 5 dealers has one! Even though the 400 number is presumably only those to be issued directly to dealers, and not the pre-orders, it still seems astonishingly low if generating a buzz is the objective. (Where are you seeing "glowing press reports," BTW? I've only seen the one from Bike so far, which wasn't exactly a direct ride report, and have heard there's one in Motorcyclist, but that hasn't arrived here yet.)

I reckon we'll see about the 1500cc in two months, if that's more than rumor.

robbo1847 · 07-12-2007, 10:34 PM

got the mag yesterday and they give it 5 stars , seem impressed with it

Scrambler900 · 07-12-2007, 11:14 PM

To clarify a bit on my previous report. The rumored introduction of a 1500cc big cruiser was characterized (by the national Triumph rep to a local dealer) as something Triumph is experimenting with, because they "haven't yet figured out the USA cruiser market". This local dealer also understands that point, because he's trying to sell quality-made, lower-priced Japanese metric cruisers in a market that overwhemingly prefers very expensive Harley-Davidsons here in the USA. The nationwide trend now shows bike manufacturers moving up to larger and larger displacement bikes which now average at or above 1,500cc. In that sense, Triumph's 865cc powered America and Speedmaster twins, being great and affordable bikes, are nevertheless out-classed and non-competitive in a market that basically prefers bigger cruisers. Therefore, since Triumph is apparently having good success selling all the gigantic 2,300cc Rockets it can make, then perhaps the company feels that a "mid size" cruiser of 1,500cc also has a worthy market. This is my analysis of what they may be planning to do, or at least ought to do. If this rumor is true, Triumph 's 1,500cc water-cooled, fuel injected cruiser bike should stack up strongly against the air-cooled (and VROD) Harley Big Twins.

I agree that the new 675cc Street Triple ought to have a strong market demand and be in plentiful supply on the showroom floors, but at the same time, Triumph is still a smaller bike manufacturer (and with more limited capital resources), and the company may be rightly cautious about jumping in too fast with huge production figures for a new model. In this sense, I bet Triumph is still trying to figure out the Scrambler market demand - a great looking and performing bike, but with limited market success. If the first year run indicates that the Street Triple sells very well, then I suspect year two will see a stronger production (and mayeb with improvements that are already in the works?)

[ This message was edited by: Scrambler900 on 2007-07-12 21:22 ]

BadMouth · 07-13-2007, 01:41 PM

I've also heard (through hearsay) about a big parallel twin being on the way. It was from someone who talked to a dealer after they returned from a conference. It would grab a small share of the cruiser market from those disenfranchised with HD, but refusing to buy anything Japanese. Some of my HD riding friends have even gone to the Triumph dealership looking for an alternative to HD. It's going to have to be something a lot more than an oversized America to capture anything more than a sliver of market share though. (a sliver of that market probably isn't bad).

As for the Thunderbird monacre, I hadn't heard that. I'm still hoping it's reintroduced as a torque and handling oriented triple.

Scrambler900 · 07-13-2007, 04:19 PM

I just came back from a large Harley-Davidson dealership her iin NC, and the least expensive large cruiser on the showroom was around $16,000. The average price per bike varied between $19,000 - $24,000. These prices are nuts, yet people keep buying them every day. This particular Harley dealership sells 4 - 5 bikes per day. It is easy to see how there should be room for competition. Good luck to Triumph in this regard.

Brooksie · 07-13-2007, 09:14 PM

Most "rumors" of a 1500 I hear are using Rocket III type engine with only two cylinders, longitude mounted. Who knows.....Triumph could use a more powerful crusier that doesn;t require a tow truck to move it in the garage.

RT · 07-15-2007, 08:35 PM

My local dealer is expecting to get one of the first 675's available. He hopes it arrives as expected before the hype dies down. They have one of the limited edition speed triples on the floor now. **** it's a pretty bike.

A 1500cc cruiser would be very interesting. My dealer says' they have heard nothing about such a bike. We can only hope.