Yamaha UK has been accused of pursuing a policy of reducing the size of its retail network by making life too difficult for dealers to carry on.
The manufacturer denies the claim, saying “we are not looking to reduce the number of dealers in the UK, we are focusing on each dealer’s viability”.
The allegations were made by Steve Keys of Keys Motorcycles in Worthing and Mike Staiano of Staiano Motorcycles in Harrogate.
Keys Motorcycles has closed down its business in its 70th anniversary year after a 55-year association with Yamaha – it was the longest serving Yamaha dealer in the UK after signing on as a dealer in 1962; and Staiano Motorcycles of Harrogate has ceased selling Yamaha’s lightweight motorcycles and has severed ties with the manufacturer.
Steve Keys told BDN: “Instead of doing the honourable thing and talking to dealers, Yamaha is trying to put pressure on dealers to weed them out.”
Keys’ theory was supported by Staiano, who said: “Yamaha speaks with a forked tongue when it claims to care about dealer profitability. How does reducing the cash on delivery discount from 1% to zero produce any financial benefit to the dealer at all?
“Yamaha has had a fundamental change of policy, decided to go down a different avenue, but rather than having the balls to admit that it is having a cull of its network, it has just made the rules of the game so onerous that we can’t comply. That’s a sneaky way of doing it …
“They are treating smaller dealers in a very shoddy manner when we are the ones putting bums on seats – new riders who will go on to buy their top-of-the-range machines in the future.”
Adam Kelley, general manager, sales and marketing for Yamaha UK writes: ‘’Our focus remains on providing our dealers with a return on investment and to provide a profitable and sustainable partnership. Retail customers’ expectations have increased and we all need to focus on providing not only an excellent customer experience but a showroom environment which is in line with our premium product position.
“Yes, we are indeed focusing on the customer experience offering and that involves investment from both Yamaha and our dealers to protect the future of our business …
“The changes include a minimum retail sales requirement of 60 units and lightweight dealers will enjoy the benefits of now being able to sell both YZF-R3 and MT-03, providing our customers with the opportunity to step up from our comprehensive range of 125 and scooter product and increasing the appeal to A2 licence holders. Additional benefits include trade terms changes mirroring the full-line policy with more bonuses available and Premier Dealer benefits in line with that exclusivity.”
Kelley concluded: “In summary, we are not looking to reduce the number of dealers in the UK, we are focusing on each dealer’s viability. Individually, however, the new changes to the lightweight terms will impact those who are unable to achieve 60 units, and those selling fewer than this number are not likely to want to invest in our new VI programme.
“Settlement bonus has been removed for 2017. However, we have increased the rewards on the qualitative elements of the structure, actually increasing the earning potential and allowing for stronger profitability.”
Full story in the November issue of BDN.