A concours car show at Savile Row in London’s Mayfair might not sound like a fertile hunting ground for motorcycle sales, but that’s not what firms like Kawasaki, Royal Enfield, Langan, Triumph and BMW reckon, because they were all in attendance at the chi-chi event last month, with positive results.
BDN went along, lowering the sartorial tone and the average annual income of the event by a big margin, and found it a very pleasant affair indeed! The entire length of Savile Row was closed off, carpeted in red, and filled with extremely high-end cars – we’re talking about an original Audi S1 Quattro rally car, an electric-converted classic Porsche 911, and a four-tonne £400k Mercedes-Benz Guard S680 armoured limousine.
But in between the oligarch mobiles were parked up some bikes, gathering plenty of attention from the extremely well-heeled, well-dressed patrons. Apparently, if you can drop £2m on a classic sports car, then finding £20k for a custom BMW R18 or £15k for a Hybrid 7 Ninja is no big thing!
The presence of bikes at the event is thanks to marketing guru Barnett Fletcher, who’s previously worked in the bike trade and is now working to open up these high-end, predominantly four-wheeled, shows to motorcycling, rather as the Goodwood Festival of Speed has always done. “The vision is simple,” he told BDN. “To allow OEM manufacturers and custom workshops to present motorcycles of a high value to a prestige audience at selected premium automotive events and concours, on a level playing field and at an appropriate cost. Smaller brands often need help competing with the big boys at traditional motorcycle shows; this way, it allows the bikes to do the talking.
“These events deliver a premium audience and we have found that the classic and super/hypercar audience, who traditionally have an appreciation of all things engineering and deep pockets, are very interested in motorcycles as well as cars. And when the price tags is £20k rather than £2m, many wish to purchase on the spot, even though these are not sales shows.
“The main consideration is cost. Some smaller brands could never consider exhibiting at these type of events, but I witnessed much success last year taking the likes of Norton to concours where they took orders. But there is still a high stand-alone cost; by teaming up it becomes more easily affordable, with the average cost being around £3000 per exhibitor.”
Ross Burridge, head of marketing at Kawasaki UK, was at the show, exhibiting the company’s new Hybrid and EV models, and was impressed. “Adding pure EV and Hybrid motorcycles to our 2024 range means we need to reach different demographics. The Savile Row Concours event proved a great opportunity to display the bikes and talk to customers in an urban environment. After speaking to a number of potential customers about alternative fuel bikes, we’re confident these machines will be well-received. I would imagine we will be back in 2025.”
And George Jennings from Royal Enfield agreed. “Definitely a relevant activity for Enfield, getting the brand out there in front of a very different demographic. There was a hell of a lot of interest and positive feedback from attendees for our Top Gear bike and we enjoyed connecting with the wider industry. Having the Malle guys with their Rally Royale on show at centre stage representing the brand was great added value.”
Meanwhile, BMW reported making actual sales on the day. “We found the event successful from a brand/model awareness perspective despite the downpour on day one,” said Philippe Young from Park Lane BMW. We collected some interest and sold one bike, with a second in discussion. It was well organised, setup and breakdown were efficient, and being just round the corner from us made it extremely convenient.”
Barnett Fletcher and his Motorcycle Showcase operation are working on more shows and events for this year and 2025. Contact him at 07768 887788 or [email protected].