Triumph network gets five- dealer boost

Like most of the big bike manufacturers, Triumph suffered from the rash of dealer closures at the end of last season. Since then, the Hinckley team has been working to repair the damage to the network and has now announced the opening of five new dealers across England. Birmingham West, Chester, Nottingham and Plymouth all get new dealerships, while Triumph’s Newcastle dealer is moving location to a new flagship store. Triumph’s total number of dealers now totals 47.

Alan Dowds spoke to Triumph UK’s general manager, Devron Boulton, about the changes. “We’re quite keen to shine a bit of a spotlight on the fact that there are now some good things happening”, said Boulton. “Obviously, it has been a difficult time for the industry over the last 12 months: businesses have closed, and there has generally been a downbeat narrative. We’re very mindful of that, and we’re doing what we can to try and move things in a more positive direction.”

Giving some background information on the new dealers, Boulton said: “The Birmingham West opening came about from a conversation with Sutton Motorcycles, who had been a Honda dealer in Tamworth. They joined us a few years ago to take on Triumph in the area and fully completed their store development just over 12 months ago. They’ve got a beautiful showroom, and have done very well with the brand. They consistently rank in the top five by volume, and are pleased with the results that Triumph has delivered. When an opportunity arose on the other side of Birmingham, where they already had facilities, they were keen to seize it. They made quite significant changes to their business to accommodate us. It had previously been a Honda site, and they decided to reconfigure that business, put Triumph at the heart of it and take on Suzuki as a second brand.”

Moving on to Chester, Triumph has rekindled an old relationship with Bill Smith through a new company, Smiths Triumph Chester. Triumph had split with Bill Smith a few years ago, but the failure of Completely Motorbikes and its Triumph Chester branch left a gap, so Triumph welcomes Bill Smith back. “Previously, we parted ways because we needed to move on, and they weren’t in a position to do that. When the opportunity came round a second time, they were keen to get back with us; they never wanted to depart in the first place. They always did a good job for us.”

Nottingham is another existing partnership, this time with the Stoneacre Automotive Group, which also runs Triumph World in Chesterfield and the Robin Hood Harley-Davidson outlet in Nottingham.

“The new Triumph store is located next to Harley, which offers some advantages. We had a conversation with them about the potential to do something in that location as a side-by-side. They were keen to look at that opportunity, on the strength of what they know their Triumph business does, but also because Harley is in a slightly more uncertain position at the moment. Triumph improves the viability of that location for them.”

The new Plymouth outlet is a completely new operation, though, and is an important move for the Hinckley firm. It lost local representation when the Plymouth Marsh Triumph outlet closed, and Triumph owners in the South West faced massive journeys for service.

“We had a lot of interest in representing us in Plymouth and there were some strong candidates,” said Boulton. “Ultimately, Ocean came to the fore. They are a BMW car and bike retailer, so they’ve got the benefit of scale, but they really understand bikes. The owner of the business, Graham, is a biker; they understand the difference between bikes and cars, and bikes excite them. They were reconfiguring their business, which meant we could explore an option with them, and it quickly became apparent that it would benefit both parties.

“We were very keen to get that up and running as quickly as we could, so they got a temporary showroom and workshop facility opened in super-quick time to be able to start looking after people ahead of a full fit out, which they’ll do over the winter.”

Graham De Val, MD at Ocean Triumph Plymouth, said: “Opening a new Triumph dealership is a significant commitment, but one we’re making with confidence. Triumph’s product line-up, brand strength and loyal rider community made it an easy decision for us. We’ve seen first-hand the high demand for the brand, and we’re excited to bring that experience to riders in the Devon and Cornwall area. It’s a great time to be joining the network.”

Triumph Newcastle is an existing business relocating into an ex-Harley-Davidson showroom as its “forever home”, as Boulton puts it. “We’ve been with our Newcastle partner in the current location for about seven years. That was only ever supposed to be a temporary home, but actually finding the forever home had proven particularly difficult. It’s an unfortunate reality that we’ve ended up capitalising a little bit on the weakness of Harley-Davidson: they had a beautiful showroom that became available, and it absolutely ticked the boxes in terms of what we’d been looking for.”

Craig Smith, Triumph Newcastle, said: “We opened our dealership in 2017 and have rapidly outgrown the site. Sales growth, driven by relentless new product development, has enabled us to create something truly special with our new site. We’ve invested with real confidence in the product, the backing from Triumph, and the strong connection customers have with the brand.”

Is Boulton happy with Triumph’s dealer list now? “Traditionally, the network in the UK has been pretty stable at around 50; that gives us an optimal balance of coverage and viable territories for dealers. We’ve come back to 47 at present, slightly less than where we would have traditionally been. I think the only genuine active open point we have at the moment is in West Wales.”