Motorcycle Industry News

Although globally the motorcycle market is in overall difficult condition, the British-brand Triumph has demonstrated solid year-on-year sales numbers.

Attributing the global success to the introduction of "incremental models to the range," Triumph has reported an increase of 7 percent in sales from June 2010 to June 2011. In this year period, Triumph sold 48,684 motorcycles compared to the 45,501 in the same period for the previous year (June 2009 - June 2010).

With these sales arrived increase profit; Triumph reports that operating profit before interest and tax grew from £15.1 ($23.6) million to £22.3 ($34.9) million "due to strong sales of motorcycles and related products, benefiting from improved use of working capital and continued focus upon the cost base."

Triumph says it "had a strong year in 2011 thanks to the effort from the Triumph team including our dealer network globally. "

Triumph's positive sales numbers occurred while the 500cc and over segment is down almost 50 percent from its peak four years ago, decreasing 7 percent within the last year alone.

Now the company based in Hinckley, Leicestershire, is looking forward to more positivity in 2012 through R&D.

Triumph says: "New models are extremely important in driving growth and we have been able to increase spending in our R&D investment during the recession, which continues to positively impact our business. This year, Triumph has already launched three new motorcycles: the Tiger Explorer, Speed Triple R and the Steve McQueen Special. Feedback from dealers, press and the public has been extremely positive."

Triumph North American Operations

A bulk of the positivity came from North American subsidiary that was established in 1994; it currently has a network of about 200 dealers.

Much of the success in North America arrives from the company's newest CEO, Greg Heichelbech, who was appointed to the position in November 2010; he was the first American to hold the CEO position in the NA market.

Heichelbech's employed a new marketing philosophy, which helped increase motorcycle retail sales by 15 percent in the last seven months.

Triumph says: "The increase was helped by the introduction of new models late in the selling season, but increases also were seen across the entire model range line-up."

But it wasn't just motorcycle sales; clothing, parts and accessories also grew 8 percent due to new product. Triumph reports that due to dealer networks supporting these new products, retail sales of clothing, parts and accessories grew 31 percent for the month of November.

Triumph says: "With the release of the new Tiger 800, the range expanded with new adventure riding wear such as the all new Explorer Jacket; in the Heritage line with the release of two Lewis Leathers jackets; and in the Legends line of wear featuring clothing that pays homage to icons of the screen who had a close relationship with Triumph, Steve McQueen and James Dean."

Triumph North America is also focused on 2012, and "growing the business through increasing brand awareness, dealer profitability, and expanding the network footprint in key open territories."