Canadian BMW dealer selling Husky's in 2010??

[North]

One of the Dualsport guys here was told at a Vancouver BMW Dealer that they will be carrying the full line of Husky's plus parts in 2010.

Rumor or fact?? Anyways this was posted on a Dualsport site here in Vancouver BC.

 

[Poopy]

That would be awesome!

 

[Motosportz]

I'm guessing you will slowly see this happen everywhere there is not good coverage already. the quality of the new shops will depend on their willingness to learn a new line and get into the brand.

 

[Dirty Bikes]

From a strictly product image position this would make zero sense. I would interested in knowing how many BMW vehicle owners ride dirt? I an sure there are some but not many. What will happen is that we will get more new riders on Huskies.

"I just spent $80k on my new X5, why not $8k more for a bike to tow behind it" Followed be "guy I bought the car from says the TXC450 is the perfect bike for a new rider" Followed by "For Sale: 2010 TXC450 very low miles, cheap...owner in bodycast"

Posers belong on KTMs not Huskies

But from an operations perspective it makes sense...very little capital investment required (i.e. facialities) to get more distribution of the Huskies.

 

[Motosportz]

From a strictly product image position this would make zero sense. I would interested in knowing how many BMW vehicle owners ride dirt? I an sure there are some but not many. What will happen is that we will get more new riders on Huskies.

"I just spent $80k on my new X5, why not $8k more for a bike to tow behind it" Followed be "guy I bought the car from says the TXC450 is the perfect bike for a new rider" Followed by "For Sale: 2010 TXC450 very low miles, cheap...owner in bodycast"

Posers belong on KTMs not Huskies

But from an operations perspective it makes sense...very little capital investment required (i.e. facialities) to get more distribution of the Huskies.

Interesting perspective.

I have several friends who ride off road and also own BMW GS800's, 650 GS and 450X models but want a real off road bike as well. Lots of guys like myself have a dirt bike, DS bike and street bike.

 

[petem]

I would interested in knowing how many BMW vehicle owners ride dirt? I an sure there are some but not many.

Errr, so long as you include bikes in "vehicles", count me in (F800GS and TE450) and my friend who has a 1200GSA and a vintage twinshock Husky (among others). Horses for courses - the BM's an excellent tourer with some basic ability on the dirt when you get there. The Husky ain't perfect on the road but it's fabulous off it. In fact...

I have several friends who ride off road and also own BMW GS800's, 650 GS and 450X models but want a real off road bike as well.

...what he said.

Might be a valid point though as to whether you'd want to buy a Husky from what's mainly a BMW dealer. If they take on the right staff who really know their Huskies and provide great service then maybe it could be ok. On the other hand if they know nothing about the bikes that would be a different matter. My local BMW dealer isn't bad but there's no way I'd want to go there for my Husky needs rather than Husky Sport who are totally geared up for it. Still, I suppose if my nearest Husky dealer was a thousand miles away and the local BMW dealer was selling Huskies...

 

[Dirty Bikes]

Vehicle meant car/truck etc...not motorcycle

BMW spends a lot of money to create an image of the BMW owner. Not many of those images include a muddy face.

A TXC450 is not part of the BMW image....it will get lost in the showroom of pretty cars or will become a novelty item. Not good for the brand we love. IMO

 

[jmetteer]

it will get lost in the showroom of pretty cars

That is why for the most part the BMW motorcycle dealers are not BMW car dealers... At least around here anyway.

I would guess Husky would go to the MC dealers...

Later,

 

[Dirty Bikes]

I would guess Husky would go to the MC dealers...

Now that would make sense. I thought that Huskies would be at BMW car dealerships...which is what I heard may be happening in my area.

 

[Motosportz]

Car dealers will not carry bikes. That simply would not make sense. They know nothing about it and would need to completely redo everything at the dealership to accommodate. I have never seen this but i guess it is possible.

As for BMW motorcycle and image they very much want to show dirt on their faces and is a big part of why they purchased husky. Check their web site.

http://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/us/en/index.html

 

[Dirty Bikes]

Car dealers will not carry bikes.

Big rumour that Budd's BMW in Oakville Canada was in talks to carry the Husky line....in the car dealership. The Budds BMW Motorrad is located in the car dealership, on the second floor.

I heard this rumour from the man himself. Was he spewing BS? Maybe...but I doubt it.

As for BMW motorcycle and image they very much want to show dirt on their faces and is a big part of why they purchased husky. Check their web site.

I was not talking about the image of BMW motorcycles

 

[petem]

Big rumour that Budd's BMW in Oakville Canada was in talks to carry the Husky line....in the car dealership. The Budds BMW Motorrad is located in the car dealership, on the second floor.

So presumably Huskies would be sold by the bike department rather than the car one? If so at least they'd have a bike background and many of the workshop facilities etc they'd need for bikes.

I know of one BMW dealership in the UK which sells both cars and bikes under the same roof, though there is a pretty effective dividing line in the middle of the building so you could visit either side without really seeing the other. The other dealerships I know are either bike or car but not both. Maybe that means BMW see them having two generally different customer bases?

I'd be very surprised if BMW dealerships that currently only sell cars suddenly took on the Husky range, for all sorts of reasons including those already suggested here by others. Then again, I've been surprised by BMW before... you know what a wacky sense of humor the Germans have.

 

[krieg]

My local BMW dealer (less than 2 miles away) is your typical high-end dealer. They act like they're doing you a favor by talking to you. The salesmen are snotty. The pricing is ridiculous. They add on "document fees" and "set-up" charges. I wouldn't buy a Husky from them if Hell froze over and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were in the ice when it froze.

I'll drive to the 2+ hours to Gerald (Upstate) or the 8+ hours to Toy Tech just to get REAL, down home, no-nonsense, SERVICE from a "Mom and Pop" dealership that actually CARES about its customers.

 

[petem]

My local BMW dealer (less than 2 miles away) is your typical high-end dealer. They act like they're doing you a favor by talking to you. The salesmen are snotty.

I have heard some bad stories about one or two of the car dealerships. To be fair, the BMW bike dealer I use isn't too bad, with the exception of the guy in the service department who told me they wouldn't warranty anything which went wrong on my F800GS due to it being taken off road. Not due to it being crashed while it was off road (which would be reasonable), but just because the wheels had left tarmac. Interesting to note that in the brochure, almost every picture shows the bike off road. Can you say "false advertising"?

 

[skid]

There is a dealer in Nh that has a ford dealership and Honda and suzuki bikes under one roof. Bikes on one side cars and truck on the other

http://www.bestcyclenh.com/

other side of that pic is a huge ford showroom ... bike side feels like a bike shop. seems to work for them, although the dealership seems to get mixed reviews

 

[Dirty Bikes]

BMW makes great, expensive touring bikes for ppl who are more concerned with the brand and the image. IMO the current BMW dirt bikes are not selling because a) 450 market is saturated with great bikes b) the BMW buyer is not about getting really dirty. Sure you can give me examples of ppl who own a BMW tourer and a dirt bike....but I bet those were dirt riders who wanted a good touring bike. Not the other way around.

I just don't see the fit. Husky is Uptite not uptight.

 

[skid]

years ago cadillac realized its customer base was ww2 vets and that some day they would all be dead. Thats not good for business. Do the caddies you see today look like the boats of yesteryear. they made an effort to redesign and reposition the brand to stay relevant and in business. they appear to have been successful so far.

BMW Motorcycles also realized that its customer base was old fat guys who would also be dead. They realized that most new young riders started on japanese bikes, and had no reason to be anywhere near a bmw bike dealership. I'm guessing they didn't want to wait around till these riders got old to sell them a bike and they did not like being known as an old guys bike. Add to this KTM slowly getting into the road bike market. If KTM stuck with dirtbikes I bet BMW would have stayed away from dirtbikes. But If ktm wanted to play in bmw's yard why shouldn't bmw play in ktms yard. I bet they started off thinking to do it bmw all the way. Husky probably came to their attention and that gave them instant access to a down trodden marquee brand. Your concern seems to be that bmw will turn husky into some kind of yuppie brand or that you'll have to wade through some yuppie road bike dealership to get your husky parts. Kind of what harley has done with their dealerships Perhaps that may happen (personally I would have no problems with a nice 30,000 square foot bmw/husky dealership stuffed full of bikes within 30 minutes of me) IMO all bmw is trying to do is stay competitve and reposition itself as something other than a rich old farts touring bike brand. The dirtbikes get them access to young riders who will hopefully stay with the brand and give it a nice injection of youth, literally and image wise. So people will think of something other than a boardroom full of rich old farts or yuppie bikers when you say BMW. BMW did not buy husky to sell huskies to bmw riders, it bought huskie to attract a younger crowd, to compete with ktm and sell bmw's to aging husky riders. How that all plays out at your local dealership or affects your Husky shopping experience .... guess we will just have to stay tuned and see.

Rant over!!

 

[North]

The BMW Dealer in question, is a Bike Dealer and they also sell Yamaha Bikes.

 

[petem]

BMW makes great, expensive touring bikes for ppl who are more concerned with the brand and the image. IMO the current BMW dirt bikes are not selling because a) 450 market is saturated with great bikes b) the BMW buyer is not about getting really dirty. Sure you can give me examples of ppl who own a BMW tourer and a dirt bike....but I bet those were dirt riders who wanted a good touring bike. Not the other way around.

Actually no. I bought the BMW because I wanted a very good long distance road bike but I also wanted to start dirt riding and at the time I couldn't afford two bikes - the 800GS gave me the chance to do both. It was only as time went by that I realised how much more hard work it was to ride off road than the proper dirt bikes my friends were riding and that I'd have a lot more fun (and be much less tired!) if I had one too. I'd agree that most BMW GS bikes probably never touch the dirt, but some certainly do as we see a few out on the trail, and both I and my friend with the 1200GSA still take them out once in a while just to keep our hands in even though we both have Huskies and he also has a TTR250.

In any case I think you may be wrong that BMW's idea is for their existing customers to buy Huskies. Some would, but I'd guess they'll be looking for most of their business to come from customers who are new to them, which would be better for them as existing customers might end up buying a Husky instead of their next new BMW.

Clearly some people will prefer the Uptites and Husky Sports of the world rather than a gleaming BMW show room, and I'm one of them even though I have a BMW. I bought it because it's a very good bike and met my needs, not because of the brand image, and I use a BMW dealer because that's where they happen to sell the bikes, not because they have a shiny hi-tech coffee machine!

 

[Dirty Bikes]

In any case I think you may be wrong that BMW's idea is for their existing customers to buy Huskies. Some would, but I'd guess they'll be looking for most of their business to come from customers who are new to them, which would be better for them as existing customers might end up buying a Husky instead of their next new BMW.

Now that could make sense. There is nothing in the current BMW bike line up that competes directly with Husky (except maybe the TE610 but that is a stretch). So by adding Huskies to the BMW showroom the dealer has an opportunity to trade up a current or new Husky rider to a BMW someday. That I can buy as forward, intelligent thinking...for the BMW brand.

But what will that do to the Husky brand in terms of price and service? If bigger showrooms are the requirement and "Mom & Pop" dealers are no longer desired by Husky then do we (the Husky community) loose something? Will the current dealers be able to compete? I am not talking about next year or the year after. But If BMW wants Hukies in a BMW dealership then they will probably want current Husky dealers to "improve" their showroom someday.

Big fancy showrooms come at a price.....a price to us. It will not be long before a Husky is line priced with a KTM