Triumph is claiming they’re the top-selling European motorcycle brand in North America so far in 2015.
According to the chaps at Hinkley, the made-in-England (or made-in-Thailand, depending on the model) motorcycles led the competition in the over-500 cc street and dual sport categories as of the end of March. They also say March 31 was their all-time best-ever day for sales numbers in North America.
Although this is great news for Triumph, it’s worth noting a couple other bits of information. These numbers don’t include dirt bikes, so all the off-road motorcycles from KTM and subsidiary Husqvarna aren’t being included in these figures. KTM also sells a few sub-500 cc motorcycles in the dual sport category which aren’t included in these figures, and soon KTM and probably BMW will both be selling sub-500 cc street bikes in our market, while Triumph has scrapped their own 250 cc project.
Those small-capacity street motorcycles from the competition might not be hugely profitable or directly competitive with Triumph’s bigger bikes, but they will disrupt the marketplace when they arrive – particularly the 390s from KTM.
However – the growth (Triumph claims a 16 per cent retail sales increase, but doesn’t say if that’s in dollars or units sold) is still a positive for the company. Matt Sheahan, the COO of Triumph Motorcycles America, claims 2015’s first quarter saw almost twice the amount of units sold compared to the Q1 numbers four years ago. In a world where motorcycles are increasingly a harder sell, it isn’t just Triumph that needs this success – the whole industry does.
“According to the chaps at Hinkley, the made-in-England (or made-in-Thailand, depending on the model) motorcycles led the competition in the over-500 cc street and dual sport categories as of the end of March.”
On alternating Tuesdays when there’s an ‘R’ in the month ? Sounds a bit narrow focused to me…
and yet, still no dealer between Whitby and Hamilton.