| Author |
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Wolfridgerider
| | Posted on Thursday, June 04, 2015 - 10:43 am: | 
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crap-tastic businessman |
Etennuly
| | Posted on Thursday, June 04, 2015 - 10:55 am: |
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Meh.....who cares about what someone writes on the internet, like everyone else, AR has their own spin on every story. That is kind of what they are there for.....to spur interest.
I have run short of caring about other peoples distanced business problems since the economy tanked on me and all of my customers. I thought that given the economic atmosphere, starting a business over the last several years has seemed like a weak idea at best, unless you have a service or product that you have real demand for, and you know the color of your customer's money.
Hanging on to an independently owned, fairly successful, twenty + year business with a solid customer base has been tough enough because my customers are suffering, because their customers are suffering, and so on.
The real problem is TIME! We are all floating along in a time lock. Erik is riding the time like all of us are, starting into our deep second half of life. He could not wait for the economy to get better before launching, the clock never stops ticking. It'd be too late for him to wait for this economy to turn around. Oh and, Hell yeah, I'd have jumped in line to buy one of his litre sport bikes.....if I was under forty(my time lock problem).
At nearly sixty years of age, financing a motorcycle, while still being slapped about by the BS we are led to believe about an economic recovery, ain't in my retirement plans.
If in the market for a new bike, I guess I'd be aimed more at a Geezer Glide(easy to get on and off), Sport Adventure(Uly like), Upright Sport(see Uly like for seating and handling), Super-light Weight(so it could be easily carried on my RV hitch), all in one motorcycle.
I still have dreams about going back to my dirt track (car) racing roots. Having visited my old race track and friends, I know that I'm better off doing Autocross four times a year in my ole' Corvette, because it doesn't hurt too much, it doesn't take all of my limited time or money, and it is still a rush. Hell the Corvette club I am in has way more members over 60 than under. I now know why. |
Sifo
| | Posted on Thursday, June 04, 2015 - 11:21 am: |
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If the Panigale figure of 1000 units is correct, then expecting 5000 EBR anything per year is probably a bit optimistic. Ducati already had a very good dealer network and customer base. EBR OTOH had to first win over dealers, then win over customers. Both groups had to first be convinced that the EBR product was NOT the Buell product. That's not meant as a slam against Buell. My XB12Ss is the favorite bike I've owned, but it's very different from an EBR 1190 anything. Put it this way... If every single person who bought a Panigale instead bought and EBR, how far short would that leave EBR from the 5000 unit goal?
Vern makes some good points about the economy, and it's roll in all of this. Of course, the advise I've always heard about timing a business start up, is to ignore the economic cycles. Usually good advice. This cycle has simply not turned around the way one would expect looking back in history. Even if Erik had foreseen this economic cycle, as Vern pointed out, he had a window of opportunity that was not going to remain open.
Having said all of that, even this information provided by an insider EBR employee, probably doesn't know the whole story at this point in time. |
Hybridmomentspass
| | Posted on Thursday, June 04, 2015 - 12:19 pm: |
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Yall getting riled up over nothing, hilarious |
Snacktoast
| | Posted on Thursday, June 04, 2015 - 12:29 pm: |
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I'm having trouble believing that Ducati didn't sell 1000 Panigale models per year. Even their Superleggera was supposedly 90% sold out of the 500 unit production run before they even shipped a single unit.
I can't find any concrete 1199 Panigale numbers, since it seems Ducati doesn't publish sales numbers.
However, I did find these numbers from mcnews.com.au and topspeed.com
In Australia only:
1199 Panigale sales numbers
2013: 291
2014: 218
Total Australian Ducati sales numbers for 2014: 1988
Also found some worldwide Ducati sales information for 2014.
Of note:
45,100 units sold, a 2% increase over 2013
8,804 units sold in the U.S.
5,787 units sold in Asia
19,743 units sold in Europe
16,409 Monster units sold worldwide
9,788 "Sportbikes" sold worldwide (not sure exactly they qualify as a "sportbike" in Ducati's lineup.
5,086 (899) Panigale models sold worldwide
(Message edited by snacktoast on June 04, 2015) |
Buelliedan
| | Posted on Thursday, June 04, 2015 - 12:57 pm: |
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That editorial from the "ex-employee" is pretty much what I have heard from some of the employees I also talked to after the closure so I believe it to be pretty accurate.
When I tried to relate some of that here right after the closure I was blasted for being on Heros side and such. Basically was told I should not say anything negative about Erik and that Hero "screwed him" was the only thing folks wanted to hear.
(Message edited by buelliedan on June 04, 2015) |
Hybridmomentspass
| | Posted on Thursday, June 04, 2015 - 01:32 pm: |
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Buelliedan - I back you dude. |
Sifo
| | Posted on Thursday, June 04, 2015 - 01:41 pm: |
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I have to admit that my gut questioned the 1000 Panigale units sold. That's why my above remark started with "IF". An EBR employee may have quite good insights into the behind the scenes workings of EBR, but probably is still not up to speed on everything. Probably even less connected on what is going on with Ducati. I have made no attempt to verify any numbers though. Bottom line though, if EBR estimated they would sell 5000 per year, and fell way short, that was a mistake. Not meaning to be critical. Sales forecasts fail for many reasons. I have no knowledge of that sales forecast being for real either. Or false for that matter. |
Hughlysses
| | Posted on Thursday, June 04, 2015 - 02:50 pm: |
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I'm just confused by the insider's comments where he says Erik was not screwed and that the situation is Erik's own fault, and then he proceeds to detail how Hero tried to screw Erik.  |
Ljm
| | Posted on Thursday, June 04, 2015 - 03:18 pm: |
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Probably everybody's fault, and no ones'. Hard business to start up in, and the lagoon is full of sharks.
Hopefully moving forward. |
Aesquire
| | Posted on Thursday, June 04, 2015 - 03:56 pm: |
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See New York Times article on professional trolls.
Not saying this is the case here. But there are a couple on this board I keep asking how to get that job. ( That they seem to have ) |
Ourdee
| | Posted on Thursday, June 04, 2015 - 10:02 pm: |
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I would guess his site hits have went up. |
Johnnylunchbox
| | Posted on Thursday, June 04, 2015 - 10:51 pm: |
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This ^^^^^^^^^^^ |
Alfau
| | Posted on Friday, June 05, 2015 - 05:51 am: |
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comments where he says Erik was not screwed He looks like he was Screwed.
} |
Stevel
| | Posted on Friday, June 05, 2015 - 09:21 am: |
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Jensen Beeler's assessment of EBR's demise sounds pretty reasonable to me. That will be proved out in due course, We will see. His comment towards Buell supporters was not the most popular statement he ever made, even if somewhat true. We are rather rabid in that department. |
Froggy
| | Posted on Friday, June 05, 2015 - 11:05 am: |
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quote:I would guess his site hits have went up.
Hopefully not much. I replaced the link with an archive link, so people that want to read the article can without generating a hit or ad revenue for them. |
Johnnylunchbox
| | Posted on Friday, June 05, 2015 - 04:07 pm: |
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Pretty sneaky, sis.
Froggy's too young to get the reference. |
Pwnzor
| | Posted on Sunday, June 07, 2015 - 08:12 am: |
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