If you were asked to name the place with the best Ducati dealership in the country – or even Europe – where would you say? Milan, Munich, perhaps London or Bristol? Well, according to Fabrizio Cazzoli, the MD at Ducati UK, the new benchmark for his dealer network is actually in the North East of England, in West Boldon on the outskirts of Sunderland. That’s where the firm’s very latest outlet, the new Ducati Sunderland showroom, is located.
It’s the first branch for the Bologna brand with the Vertu group of car and bike dealers, and BDN had an exclusive chat with Cazzoli, and Vertu CEO Robert Forrester, just after the gala opening weekend event last month. Vertu has been selling bikes since 2007 and is already a Honda and BMW Motorrad franchise holder (it’s actually the biggest Motorrad dealer in the UK). Why did the firm decide to take on Ducati? And why Sunderland?
“We don’t want too many franchises,” said Forrester. “We want to have focus and be experts in the franchises we operate. The only addition we wanted was Ducati. There are a number of reasons: first, we see them at the luxury end, the pinnacle of motorcycling. Also, they’re part of the Volkswagen Audi Group, and we have a very strong relationship with VAG, so that fits nicely.
“And when we were looking at the business and where Ducati could fit, we felt Sunderland was the place for it. It’s not actually in Sunderland, it’s in Boldon, at the intersection of the main A19 from Newcastle. It’s the most accessible place in the North East, and bikers here are in a great location, they can go south to the Yorkshire Moors, south-west to the Dales, across to the Lake District, or north to Northumbria and then Scotland, you couldn’t be in a better place. We felt there was a big opportunity, and proof was at the launch weekend when we had north of 400 people there. It’s clearly hit something in the North East bike community to get that many people.
“It couldn’t have gone any better, and now we’ve got to make sure that we deliver good service to our customers and develop a good reputation. Anyone can put a whizzbang event on, but it’s not much use if you can’t deliver the service!”
Vertu has a BMW Mini and Motorrad outlet on the same estate and owns the new Ducati building. “We’ve probably spent £3-4m on redeveloping the whole site,” said Forrester. “The Ducati showroom is to the latest standards, and it’s a sizable investment within that, but an investment we’re willing to make.
“We have some staff transferring from the existing business, and we will be recruiting. Is it easy to recruit good bike technicians? No, it’s never easy! But I think we’ve done okay; we have a few more on board now, and the service department is open with a dedicated Ducati workshop. Opening before winter means we’ll be fully trained and up and running to hit next season completely ready.”
From left: Charley Boorman, Fabrizio Cazzoli, managing director of Ducati UK and Chris Taylor, operations director at Vertu Motors plcFabrizio Cazzoli was clearly happy with the latest dealership in his network. “We have a new benchmark for Ducati in the country and that benchmark is Ducati Sunderland. The facility is amazing; I think it’s going to be the one to look at, not only in the UK, but I think it’s a very, very high standard internationally as well. I’ve been working in China, where building massive and impressive showrooms is relatively easy, so doing what Vertu has done in Sunderland is quite exceptional. That’s why I’m saying this is the new standard for the country.
“In Sunderland, we had a location that was not covered, and now we’ve managed to do two things – finally, after several years, we have a new Ducati home there, but also with a very successful partner, so we have the best of both. And that is another message to reaffirm our strategy of enlargement and improvement. We need to cover the whole territory, but we need to do it with the best partners.”
Cazzoli praised the opening weekend itself. “The event itself was a pleasure to be at. It was surprising for many reasons. One is that there is a huge loyal Ducati community. They have stayed with the brand despite the fact that no one was taking care of them. I haven’t talked so much at a new dealer opening ever!” And Cazzoli says that the enthusiasm was matched in the order department as well. “The order intake for such a short opening period was far beyond expectations. I can’t tell you the number, but let me tell you we exceeded our forecasts.”
A positive start for a very high-profile new Ducati outlet. Will we see more from Vertu in the future? You wouldn’t bet against it, but Robert Forrester reckons slow and steady will be the watchwords. “We’re happy with our three franchises, but I don’t think we need to venture into anymore. We will help our management by appointing a dedicated bike director, which is in progress. This isn’t where our bike business stops. There’s a lot of work to do here; setting up from scratch is always interesting, and we’ll look to do more and expand in due course, but we’ll do it in steps: not going too big too soon.”