“The market is going to be rubbish this year, with all the uncertainty, but there will be winners and losers; there always is.” That’s the view of Paul Weinberger of Cupar Motorcycles, who says he will be working hard to ensure his dealership will be in the former category.
Cupar Motorcycles sells MV and Suzuki plus Kawasaki from its sister store based in Kirkcaldy.
“MV has had such a hard time since 2016 but that’s behind it now and we are getting a lot more interest, which was evident when I attended all nine days of the NEC show in November. Everybody always says MVs are the best bikes at the shows – they are beautiful machines – and the ownership of the factory is perfect now as far as the dealers are concerned – the supply of spares is not as good as for the Japanese brands, but it is as good as any other European manufacturer.
“The interest in the range is coming back, the customer confidence in the brand is coming back and that’s all we were lacking. I’m very excited about the prospects for MV.”
Cupar Motorcycles sold 12 MVs last year and is aiming to double that in 2020. Weinberger has four deposits for the limited edition Superveloce Serie Oro, which accounts for more than 1% of the 300 specially plated machines.
Weinberger said Kawasaki continued to do well and he was hopeful of a turn-around with Suzuki. “Suzuki couldn’t be in a worse position than in 2019 but I happen to know what’s in the pipeline – the Hayabusa and other models to come from the new factory in Hamamatsu.
“We have done all right with used Suzukis – they’ve continuously been good for us – in fact we are selling more used than new.”
Of the prospects for 2020, Weinberger said: “We are going to take a bigger chunk of the cake, which isn’t too difficult when you are coming from such a low base with Suzuki and MV, which have both struggled over the past couple of years. I think we will do quite well.”