Well I base what I say off of working in the industry and talking to dealers along with talking to ex Norton dealers. I am also in the state that has the highest motorcycle sales in the USA. Voodoo is correct using Harley as an example. Look at the average age of a Harley owner and its above 50. Tony makes a point about what is the possible cost. You can exclude 98% of the buying market on cost alone. There are 10 Ducati dealers within 100 miles of me with 8 of those being within 50 miles yet you don't see that many Ducati on the road or at the local popular spots but yet people recognize them as a premium brand or the Ferrari of motorcycles. Not a lot of people buying 20k plus motorcycles unless they are Harley. 95% of our customers haven't even heard of Norton when they see them both old and new in the shop.
To make your point, If TVS was trying to capture a certain market then where is the "marketing"? You think if they planned any scale of sales they would be advertising it not just issuing press releases. They haven't reached out to the old dealers(or new for that matter)I have spoke to and more importantly those dealers got hung out and lost customers because of that. Would you go back to a selling dealer who didn't handle your issues or wont work on the bike now? Besides those owners who like the brand, who is actually going to buy them?
Ducati sold 60,000 in 2021. You think TVS facility is less state of the art than Norton? Need to sell a lot of motorcycles and parts to support that .
Again to make my point about sales. How many 961's were actually sold? TVS probably has a close answer but not one person has said they sold this amount. Everyone speculates but what's the number? Even the number of members to this forum that own a 961 is less than 50? Less than 100? Can they make money off a 961 that someone else holds the engine on?
You have to have the US market to succeed in the high end market. So unless the its a race only bike you need to meet US EPA and CA EPA.
I think you will see smaller bikes and electric coming out of TVS which means they will be competing with Royal Enfield on a global market.
Regarding negativity. Its conversation that might be pointing out those negative flaws of an already designed bike but I would bet that if TVS is really on top of things, they will be watching these forums with keen interest to see what is being discussed. So with that I say keep posting thoughts etc. because while it might seem negative, it might actually help shape the direction of TVS in some small manner
