Brammo Appoints Jim Marcolina to Drive Dealer Development

[Brammofan]

From a news release:
ASHLAND, Oregon. June 7th 2011.—Brammo Inc., a global leader in the electric vehicle industry, is proud to announce and welcome, Jim Marcolina, who will be spearheading development of the Brammo dealer network in North America.
Marcolina began his career at Harley Davidson as a district sales manager. His successes led to his appointment as Director, Dealer Development/Dealer Relations at Harley Davidson. Marcolina has an honorable mention in the book “Well Made in America” for his outstanding role in the turnaround of Harley Davidson.
“Jim brings a deep knowledge and understanding of the motorcycle industry that will accelerate the growth of our dealer network.” said Craig Bramscher, CEO and Founder of Brammo. “There are hundreds of dealers who have applied to carry the Brammo range of motorcycles and Jim will be helping us to select the best and will then ensure that they become successful Brammo dealerships.”

[Gavin]

I'm telling you....Harley and Brammo are made to be together..

Harley gets much needed foot traffic and press AND opens the door to a more youthful, future looking market...and no Brammo models are in direct competition with Harley models...

Brammo gets some press and TONS of dealerships.

Gavin

[Brammofan]

I'm telling you....Harley and Brammo are made to be together..

Harley gets much needed foot traffic and press AND opens the door to a more youthful, future looking market...

Are you sure about that "youthful" claim?  Most of the Harley riders I see are older than me.

[FreepZ]

Are you sure about that "youthful" claim?  Most of the Harley riders I see are older than me.

I think that the idea is that younger people will show up at the Harley Davidson dealership, looking for Brammos, although some people think that the younger crowd are not interested in e-bikes.

I cannot understand why the sport bike kids have no interest in the EMPULSE. The older sport riders like myself understand, but most of the youngsters laugh at the Empulse everytime I bring it up. What's it like in your area? 

I would be very happy if Brammo showed up at Harley Davidson dealerships (heck, I would be happy if the Empluse was available anywhere!) There would definitely be no concern about direct competition: Loud, oily, gasers vs. silent, clean electrics. They couldn't be more different! As for the younger crowd, once people get used to seeing Empulses on the road, they may yet come around.

[Gavin]

I'm telling you....Harley and Brammo are made to be together..

Harley gets much needed foot traffic and press AND opens the door to a more youthful, future looking market...

Are you sure about that "youthful" claim?  Most of the Harley riders I see are older than me.

yep, I was trying to say that Harley could use some young people in the shop and that electrics and a sports electric and a dirt electric could bring in younger people than Harley usually get walking in....

Gavin

[Richard230]

Unfortunately, sport bikes didn't go over so well when the Buell was available at many Harley dealers. What I heard was that plenty of customers wanted Buells, but the sales staff didn't want to sell them. I hope that many of these unenlightened sales people have moved on and are now selling chain saws.

I have a friend that bought a Buell 900 XC and he had a heck of a time getting it serviced at his dealer. They told him that only one of their mechanics would work on the bike and he had to make a special appointment to get the bike serviced when this fellow was at the shop. A year later the HD shop closed and the building remains vacant.   

[skadamo]

My local Harley dealership sells Genuine brand scooters. Basically rebranded Asian scoots that got a quality stamp of approval. There is an opportunity for cross selling based on foot traffic.

HOG owners have kids going to college is one example I can think of that might allow them to sell scoots. Some come to window shop or buy a HOG shirt for dad and see them.

Might be worth a try to find out what kind of cross sell opp exists in HOG shops.

[skadamo]

ATK Motorcycles is getting in HOG dealerships without HD's approval so it is possible.