Triumph claiming losses of around a million dollars for the year?
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
Triumph Struggling?
Since the debuts of Triumph’s Thruxton and Rocket III, the worldwide motorcycle press has continually praised the manufacturer for bold moves to win increased market share. Recently, Triumph followed on the sales success of these bikes with the rollout of significant upgrades to four of its core bikes: the Daytona, Sprint ST, Tiger and Speed Triple during this year’s Intermot show. Reviews of the increased displacement Daytona 650 are just now appearing and word is that the bike is a keeper as it provides more comfort and equivalent performance to its Japanese supersport counterparts.
However, a recent story in the UK newspaper, the Telegraph reports that Triumph is claiming losses of around a million dollars for the year and has reduced staff by 12 percent. This news follows company press releases touting increased sales in the US for every quarter of the past year and significant buzz in the marketplace. Triumph is still recovering from the 2002 fire at its Hinckley plant and obviously has incurred some significant product development and manufacturing costs related to the new models introduced and advertising spending within the US has definitely been up over the year as they have been running full page ads in almost every motorcycle magazine I have read this year.
As a current Triumph owner who can’t wait to get a test ride on the new Sprint ST and Daytona 650, here’s hoping that this year’s results are mainly symptomatic of the falling dollar and considerable investment. With any luck John Bloor and co. have implemented the correct cost controls to guarantee that brit-bike enthusiasts will always be able ride a Triumph. Rest assured that we’ll keep you posted throughout the year on this story. Of particular importance will be Q1 and Q2 results to see if the model upgrades are bringing new buyers in and whether or not Rocket III sales continue to grow beyond the huge demand exhibited when the bike was first released.
link to Telegraph report
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
Triumph Struggling?
Since the debuts of Triumph’s Thruxton and Rocket III, the worldwide motorcycle press has continually praised the manufacturer for bold moves to win increased market share. Recently, Triumph followed on the sales success of these bikes with the rollout of significant upgrades to four of its core bikes: the Daytona, Sprint ST, Tiger and Speed Triple during this year’s Intermot show. Reviews of the increased displacement Daytona 650 are just now appearing and word is that the bike is a keeper as it provides more comfort and equivalent performance to its Japanese supersport counterparts.
However, a recent story in the UK newspaper, the Telegraph reports that Triumph is claiming losses of around a million dollars for the year and has reduced staff by 12 percent. This news follows company press releases touting increased sales in the US for every quarter of the past year and significant buzz in the marketplace. Triumph is still recovering from the 2002 fire at its Hinckley plant and obviously has incurred some significant product development and manufacturing costs related to the new models introduced and advertising spending within the US has definitely been up over the year as they have been running full page ads in almost every motorcycle magazine I have read this year.
As a current Triumph owner who can’t wait to get a test ride on the new Sprint ST and Daytona 650, here’s hoping that this year’s results are mainly symptomatic of the falling dollar and considerable investment. With any luck John Bloor and co. have implemented the correct cost controls to guarantee that brit-bike enthusiasts will always be able ride a Triumph. Rest assured that we’ll keep you posted throughout the year on this story. Of particular importance will be Q1 and Q2 results to see if the model upgrades are bringing new buyers in and whether or not Rocket III sales continue to grow beyond the huge demand exhibited when the bike was first released.
link to Telegraph report