Market reports – First half of 2013: BMW’s market report – Pre-owned BMW

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First half of 2013: BMW’s market report

Market reports - First half of 2013: BMW's market report - Pre-owned BMW

BMW has just completed the first half of 2013 with a decline of -4.5% and has a total of 6,197 registrations. The CEO of the German brand, Marcel Driessen, gives his impressions to Site and its readers. Balance sheet.

Site: To what do you attribute the drop in the motorcycle market in France in the first half of 2013 ?
Marcel Driessen (General Manager BMW Motorrad France): The deplorable weather conditions and the economic difficulties in France are for me the two main negative factors of the start of 2013. French households’ budgets are increasingly tight and the first sector to suffer is leisure. Motorcycles are therefore impacted primarily by the economic crisis. This, combined with record cold weather in May and June, which are the most important months of the season in terms of sales, results in a significant drop in the two-wheeler market. From January to March, there was snow in a large part of the north of France … difficult to try motorcycles in this case.

"Difficult to try motorcycles in the snow"

MNC: For you, what is the highlight of this first half of the year? ?
R. Z.: The release of the new R 1200 GS with its brand new liquid-cooled engine and its success in testing and comparison. It is absolutely unanimous. The F 800 GT is also good news for us, it’s a real BMW for less than € 10,000 (ABS included). Finally, the Concept Ninety has caused a lot of talk and foreshadows what will be the design of future BMW motorcycles..

MNC: Regarding your activity, what is your assessment of your first six months of 2013? ?
R. Z.: The market for more than 500 cc fell by almost -17%, and BMW Motorrad resisted by falling by -4.9% (by being at the level of the market on motorcycles and by strongly progressing on maxiscooters). We had not expected such a significant drop in the market in the first half of the year, but we are doing better than all the manufacturers and are therefore gaining market share. We manage to retain our customers while gaining customers from other manufacturers thanks to our commercial efforts and our strong communication. To stay in the race, you have to be competitive and responsive. Do a lot of marketing and get customers. The market is changing, consumption methods are changing: we have to adapt or suffer the consequences.

"To stay in the race, you need a lot of marketing and get customers"

MNC: In general, how does the second semester look? ?
R. Z.: In the first half of the year, the market for motorcycles over 500 cc fell by about -17%, which is huge. Unfortunately the second half will probably not be much better but we still hope for a recovery with the arrival of fine weather. We also believe that the new products and the various international exhibitions will help the French market. For BMW Motorrad, we want to continue to let people know that a BMW is not necessarily an expensive motorcycle with in particular the F 800 R at € 7,990 with ABS.

MNC: What are your tools to face this difficult period ?
R. Z.: First, the best tool is the range and the products. Today at BMW Motorrad we have a very good range with in particular three new products this year: the GS 1200, the F 800 GT and the F 800 GS Adventure … not to mention the scooters which are only in their first year. Dealers therefore have what it takes to bring customers to their dealerships … Then, to resist, you have to be active, communicate and be a merchant. We communicate very strongly, we want to invite all bikers to try a BMW in our dealer network. We have 1000 motorcycles on trial throughout the network from March to October, so people can try out our motorcycles and see for themselves the quality of our products. Numerous financing or equipment offers are underway to attract prospects to our dealerships. We also work a lot with our dealers on commercial methods in order to put in place sales processes and techniques to receive customers well, take care of them and adapt to their needs. We also help our dealers on used motorcycles through competitive financing rates and also the BMW Motorrad Premium Selection label (label on used BMWs with two years of warranty and support like a new BMW). We have a network of quality dealers, we work hand in hand with them. They understand our needs, are very active and we help them by setting up a number of central communication tools. We also support the network by adapting our sales policy to the context. In complex situations, the dealer network is our first asset.

Interview by Matthieu BRETILLE

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