To support major sales growths, Irelands Harley-Davidson and Buell dealer network is set to triple in the space of 12 months growing from just one dealership to three. In addition to the existing Waterford showroom, a new purpose-built facility is now open for business in Dublin and a third dealership in Cork is due for completion in June this year. The two new dealerships alone represent an inward investment for the Motor Company of more than 7,000,000.
Well-known Irish automotive trader Brian Murphy opened the Dublin dealership with son Jeff in January at the Red Cow Retail Centre in Ballymount, Dublin 22. Brian who began riding motorcycles in 1965 is well-known within the Irish automotive community. The former President of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry founded Belgard Motors in 1985 before selling his shareholding in 2005.
His son Jeff who worked with Brian at Belgard Motors is a keen motorcyclist and has been instrumental in co-founding the Harley-Davidson and Buell dealership with his father. Dealer Principal Jeff is extremely passionate about the Harley-Davidson brand after fulfilling his childhood dream of owning one of the iconic motorcycles in 2005.
The father and son duos investment in the motorcycle brands totals in excess of 5,000,000, but they are confident that the new venture is a sound business proposition. We made this level of commitment after carefully considering whether the business proposition could make an acceptable return in a reasonable timeframe, says Brian.
Our deliberations were positive, so we developed our 15,000 sq. ft. facility. Although its early days, our customer reaction has been excellent and to date our business performance is in line with our expectations. The dealer staff are looking forward to their first motorcycle riding season in business with the introduction of an exciting range of new models for 2008.
The Cork facility will open under the direction of existing Waterford Harley-Davidson and Buell Dealer Principal Lenny Burns. The expansion represents a further estimated 2,000,000 inward investment into the brands and is, as Lenny says, a natural progression based on the success of the Waterford Dealership and the ever expanding Custom Cruiser market.
Harley-Davidson and Buell UK & Ireland Managing Director Paul Stroud is positive about the future. To treble our presence in Ireland within a year is serious growth, he says, and it demonstrates the strong commitment that our dealers have in working with us to achieve sales growth and improving the accessibility of our brands to our customers.
We are dedicated to our long term objective of ensuring that all Harley-Davidson and Buell enthusiasts have a local dealer within a 90 minute ride of home. The fact that our dealer profitability results are amongst the best in the automotive and motorcycle industries offers an extremely attractive investment proposition for our partners and in turn gives us real confidence in achieving this aim.
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