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Iron Butt
Posts: 619
Southeast Iowa | So if I understand Teach correctly it would do no good to build demo bikes for people to try. If they couldn't buy it after trying it they would move on. Now if they were allowed to purchase the demo bike that would create 2 BIG issues.
1. Demo bike gone so how does that help others that want to touch, feel, and ride.
2. The pre-order guys are still waiting on their bike while their neighbor pulls up on the one he just bought from the dealer after his demo ride.
Really..........I can't believe that 1/2 the people here rationalize that test bikes should come before paying customers. Is this concept so hard to understand? Am I off in left feild and totally missing something? I can't think of any market where product gets put on the shelf before orders are filled. The new Beetle, Mustang, Camaro, and so on all went to paying customers before dealers had them on their lot. Any business with any sense sells their product to generate revenue before they build an inventory that they finance on the floor. Having to wait on one is not always a bad thing.........it creates a buzz that can actually make the product more desirable. This was true for the cars mentioned above and happens every X-mas with toys. Anyone remember those stupid Cabbage Patch Dolls selling for way over $100 when they were only supposed to be about $30. Anyone remember used Harley's selling for more than new Harley's less than 10 years ago? It is a simple principal called "Supply and Demand" Those that buy first will be supplied first. This is true in every market in every country in the world.
I agree that dealers must have bikes on their floor for potential customers to touch, feel, and yes ride. Test rides do sell bikes and Victory must continue to do this. With that said guys............in what world do "potential buyers" come before "real buyers"? |
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Cruiser
Posts: 170
Houston, TX | Big Vic - 2009-11-15 7:58 AM
The new Beetle, Mustang, Camaro, and so on all went to paying customers before dealers had them on their lot.
Untrue. You could rent them at major car rental outlets (Hertz,Avis,etc...) before they were actually at the dealerships.
Edited by elvis441 2009-11-15 10:24 AM
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Iron Butt
Posts: 619
Southeast Iowa | Not untrue. Don't you think Hertz, Avis, etc. ordered them? Don't you think they "paid" for those cars? Do you think the car manufactures just gave them away while customers waited so Hertz could rent them to you? Come on............think about it.
Hertz, Avis, etc were the "paying customers" who placed their order that is why they got them before the dealers did.
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Visionary
Posts: 3204
Memphis | I'll use this year's schedule as an example shown here: http://www.polarisindustries.com/en-us/Victory-Motorcycles/Pages/Demo-Tour-Events.aspx If all of these events could have demo bikes available at the cost of less than a week of production, just imagine how many riders could get saddle time. I don't know how many pre-orders Victory gets for a new model (don't get me wrong, I pre-ordered my Vision in July of '07) but in the big scheme of things it would seem like the overall numbers favor the demo bikes making waves all winter at the cost of the pre-orders waiting maybe an extra week. The pre-orders would always be the first owners, just necessarily not the first (and only) riders. I know neither side will win this argument but it's fun to watch.
Edited by SongFan 2009-11-15 11:51 AM
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Iron Butt
Posts: 619
Southeast Iowa | Ok "ME BAD" I apparently don't know how to read even after Jedi Jeff said maybe we were getting off topic. Somehow I failed to understand "DEMO BIKE" to be those that travel around the country in the Victory haulers and NOT those that Dealers have and let people ride. My job as Manufacturing Manager might be to blame...........I'm not used to thinking that a customer has to wait while we build product for the company to use for pictures, advertising, literature, shows, and in this case demo rides.. These products are typically built during Pilot Runs or Design Verification Runs and do not effect customer delivery once the product is released.
So for what it is worth I DO think Victory should build it's fleet of bikes for their haulers first, but more than likely this was done before the bikes were ever released to production (which does not effect customer delivery) therefore making this discussion a mute point.
Sorry again for my confusion. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1436
| BigVic, I believe you might have missed my point. I think it is far more important to get the bikes out to the dealers than to build a demo fleet. Folks who preordered should come first, but which preorders come first? My dealer preordered a number of the Cross Bikes at the dealer show, so should he get his first? They are pre-orders. Or should vic only fill customer preorders first? Which dealer gets his bikes first then?
The point is you couldn't get the bikes out to the customers and dealers fast enough in most cases. So those who are pre-orders be they dealers or customers should be filled first based on "when the order was taken." So it is quite possible with my dealer having ordered several bikes at the dealer show to have customers who did not pre-order riding before someone who laid down cash the day after my dealer did. However, Victory should NOT delay delivery of pre-orders to make up a fleet of demo bikes to take to shows.
If my dealer had a foresight to pre-order bikes, good on him. That allows him to do what he knows sells bikes in his area...letting potential customers ride them and take them home after if they decide it is for them.
I "believe" far too many Victory dealers have become like the HD and Honda dealers I have visited. They want you to buy but they don't want you in the saddle before you do, UNLESS it happens to be on some demo factory truck bike. Wrong approach to sales if you ask me. In fact MOST dealers in my area will put you on any bike you are interested in because they know riding them will sell more bikes. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1340
Gainesville Fl Home of the Gators | Here in the trenches I have got to say that building the 10-15 Demo bikes does not make a big enough difference in product delivery to worry about. It is not like they took a weeks worth of production; more like half a day at the most. However the trucks running around without demo bikes made the whole demo deal pointless |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 619
Southeast Iowa | Teach to your point my answer is.
1. I think the demo fleet for Victory haulers is a non-issue since they should have been built in pre-production runs anyway. Let's get past that one.
2. I also agree that pre-orders should come first but I feel the customers that have put money down should get their bikes before the dealers orders are filled and here's why. Dealers pre-order bikes every year at the dealer meetings (or shortly after) This is nothing new for them, this is how the business works. They do this for PG@A and both new and existing models. These orders are not sold but are for inventory for their floor. Once again, why would Victory make a paying customer wait so a dealer could put 1 on his floor?
Let's also not forget who sold these pre-ordered bikes to the customer. It was the dealer in the first place so it's not like he's being cut out of the loop. Let me repeat "These customer pre-ordered bikes which are the center of attention were sold to customers by dealers" The sooner the customer gets his pre-ordered bike the sooner the dealer gets paid! The only dealers that wouldn't want to fill customer orders first are the ones that didn't sell one. The only customer that wouldn't want "the customer" to get the bikes first is the one who didn't order one.
Ok -With this post I'm done.............too much typing over something that doesn't matter anyway. Victory has and will continue to build bikes for customers who have put money down before dealer inventories. As for the haulers.......if Victory didn't build those bikes first it's because they didn't want to..........I don't know why nor do I care. In today's world there are many places to get information if you want it. If there is not a CR or CC on the hauler in November I doubt that it will kill Victory. Those that are actually interested enough to buy an X bike will wait.
Edited by Big Vic 2009-11-15 5:03 PM
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Hypothetical Victory Dilemma
