GasGas Dealers Association?

[GMP]

I'll start making a list of what i think needs to happen and will share it with the association. I think all dealers should do the same and then combine the list into a condensed version as i believe we all have alot of the same concerns. With this we can make a plan.

Maybe Jeff can set up a secure "dealer access only" area for this purpose.

[barkeater]

Can former dealers join the association?

Would it be feasable for Gas Gas to send over partially assembled or unassembled bikes (frames, engines, wheel sets, suspension) and let the US importer custom build a US market bike right here in the US?

Are there any import benefits to shipping in containers of parts rather than finished motor vehicles? Would any US company be foolish enough to tackle that?

US riders seem to like the 300 engine with the MC250 suspension and an MC black box. The frames being all the same makes stocking frame parts for 500 bikes a piece of cake.

I think Knight was trying to do something like this and had some luck with the SE300 models in 2001-02. Those things ripped.

What about street legal dual sports? With fuel in the $3.00+ range people might be able to justify a high dollar enduro bike if it had a plate. That shoots down 2 strokes though - the 450/515 is getting better, but still isn't reliable enough to ride to the trail head, spend a day on the trail and take you home again. But - does street legal tarnish the "purebred racebike" image. Owning a GG is a little like owning an F1 car. It's only good for one thing - racing and winning... well, thats two things...

Along those lines, does anyone motocross a Gasser? If you want to bring bikes in, fer criminy sake, why would you not be active in US motocross?!
I don't really like MX myself, but they outnumber us off-road guys 10:1! Get someone to start winning motocross on a Gas Gas and by the very nature of the MX crowd, everyone else would want to have one. This seemed to work for the Austrians.

Dealers: Large or small dealer, they might have a problem with dealer longevity if they dumped 500 bikes on showroom floors and they didn't move. Let alone dropping the bottom out of an already anemic resale value on the Gassers. Especially with NO marketing support. (Advertising/Marketing? Non-existant since the first GG bikes landed here in the 90's.) The dealers will choke on the bikes.

I believe that is what happened in '04. Too many new bikes, dealers were full, resale plummetted and 2004 bikes were selling at HEAVY discounts by early '05. Hence the flood of 2004 bikes on the market and the delay in the start of the '05 model year.

They do need a reliable dealer network. More than 50 dealers across the US. Big dealerships can't take on Gas Gas... no incentive and the high price bikes won't sell next to the $4,000 asian bikes. Mom and pop shops scare away those looking for longevity and reliability... Catch 22 for GG?

When I was a dealer, parts availabiltiy (unfounded fear, but perceived by most non-GG riders anyhow) and awful resale scared away more customers than my poor salesmanship.

Did I contribute anything, or did I just mentally puke all over this thread?

[gasgasman]

Gas Gas just dropped their pro US rider, Nick Fahringer.
Gas Gas has no "real" pro rider support.
People buy what wins on Sunday.

Bottom line is that the bikes are 12 year old technology. You can only milk a cow for so long.
On the other hand, KTM revamps their bikes every 3 years.

[dgrewe]

Hey to all. Being a new dealer, I think the dealers need to pull together on this matter.
I just became a dealer in jun 07 and sold the 2 bikes that i could find. I have 6 presales for 08, plus the plan to get 5 on the floor. Now I have no idea if i can even get bikes. GasGas and Husaberg are the only bikes i have. Need some help on this one, with no word from the rep,

[GMP]

GGNA made some good inroads in the southeast, gave the bikes a lot of exposure. GGs were not uncommon there while being almost unknown up north. I would think the sales numbers would look best there.


Steve,

That 500 bike a year number, is that a goal or a projected requirement to do business here in the US?

barkeater,

Dan Marshall of Marshall's Motorsports (GG dealer in NY) is an active motocrosser on GGs.

[tm_enduro]

Originally Posted by gasgasman

Bottom line is that the bikes are 12 year old technology. You can only milk a cow for so long.
On the other hand, KTM revamps their bikes every 3 years.

At the risk of veering off topic, I must partially dissagree with this comment. Yes the technology is getting old, but none of the other brands are really doing anything better. Believe me, the new bikes are significantly better than the 1997 ec250, and are much better than the 1994 ec125 and 1995 ec250. Personally, rather than reinventing the bike (or going to Alu frame), I would much rather see GasGas up the suspension spec (even that really is not necessary, but Ohlins f/r almost always wows the magazines and thus increases sales).

[tm_enduro]

Originally Posted by GMP

That 500 bike a year number, is that a goal or a projected requirement to do business here in the US?

I think that 500 is seen as the "critical mass" to make the USA market successful.

[Berkyboy]

Thanks for all of the responses guys. This kind of discussion can make a difference for the future of GasGas in the US.

To my knowledge the GasGas factory was not supporting any US riders directly. All of that support came from Dixie Sales and the local dealer who sponsored the rider. With Dixie Sales out by the end of the month they most likely are not in any position to support Fahringer for the rest of the year. Not a good thing for Fahringer but a fact non the less.

As far as any official notification from Dixie Sales I too am a little dissapointed of no official word.

As far as the "500 bike a year" number, that comes from a very reliable source.

I do think that that number is attainable in the US as long as dealers are willing to invest in bike and parts inventory and that only comes if they are comfortable with the overall GasGas program that the new US distributer will put together.

As I see it, GasGas could easily hit 700 to 1000 bikes a year if the the distributer and manufacturer could overcome the following problems:

Late delivery of new model year bikes kills us every year. We (US GasGas dealers) probably lose 200 to 300 bike sales a year because we don't recieve any new bikes until late fall. This has got to change.

No contigency and/or small national presence. GasGas bikes are very competitve and they are not being raced because they don't have any contigency.

No consumer finance packages. Once again we lose bike sales because a potential buyer can use his "KTM" or "Yamaha" card to buy a new bike.

No ongoing long term marketing plan that places advertising in national off-road magazines as well as keeps GasGas bikes in the hands of magazine editors. I can understand the small amount of advertising, especially if the US sales numbers for bike sales are somewhere between 150 and 250 bikes but not working with the off-road magazines is a problem that has to be fixed.

Don't get me wrong I've had nothing but a positive relationship with Dixie Sales and I feel their involvment will be missed, especially with their parts management system, it was a welcome step inthe right direction over GGMA.

Now comes the part nobody wants to hear. All of the above "fixes" cost money and it is going to take some concessions from the manufacturer, the importer / distributer, the dealer and the consumer.

What Im saying is don't expect GasGas bikes to have much lower prices in the future, especially with the declining US Dollar against the Euro. The best we can hope for is to share the costs of the above programs but that in turn will drive sales up which will help support resale prices etc.

Sorry for the long response.

GoFasters

[MattR]

Originally Posted by Berkyboy

To my knowledge the GasGas factory was not supporting any US riders directly. All of that support came from Dixie Sales and the local dealer who sponsored the rider.

GasGas makes some great enduro/XC bikes, however 'outsiders' don't get to see them winning races. Here in the U.S., GNCC racing gets some decent exposure on Speed TV whereas enduro racing does not. It would make more sense to sponsor a good pro rider (such as Shane Watts... who is privateer now) and get some top 10 finishes. Folks will get to see GasGas running competively against Yamaha, KTM, etc.. I know Fred Hoess rides GasGas but you never get to see his exposure since its enduro. Nothing against Fred, but more visible tv/magazine race coverage will help sell the brand.

My point is... you have to go fishing where the fish are located.

[eff]

There are a few was to approach the financing issue. None of the manufacturers are actually doing the financing themselves. The KTM Card is a program run through GE Finance I believe. That being said there are two options as I see it.

1) First, a unified entity, whether it be a GG dealers association, importer, or the GG Corporate, needs to contact on of the finance entities and request proposals for these services. My guess is that it will not be GG Corp., but rather the importer that would undertake this and in the absence of an importer the dealers association.

I'm not sure if the current target volume of 500 bikes is large enough to attract GE Finance however. If they earn a 2.5 - 3% commisssion based on 500 bikes then we are only talking 90 - 100K. That is not to say do not try.

2) Is for each dealer to enter into relationships with your local banks. This is a financing source than many car dealers use, especially the smaller used car dealers. This option is available right now. It is not as flashy as a nice orange KTM card, but it can sell bikes if you can say "Yes, you can finance this bike! You have been approved!" The positive here is that the dealer doesn't have to wait for some other entity to provide the tools to sell his inventory.

There have been a lot of good posts here. The key point is that dealers need to take charge of their supply. There has been such great turnover in importers that the dealers are the only constant in the equation.

Better communication
Better supply
Better publicity
=
Better sales