Bauer Millett closes down..........
Discussion
Great shame, bought two new Harley Davidsons's from them many years ago, found them OK to deal with.... always used to drool at the exotic cars from all over the world they had in the showroom in the seventies when they were in Peter Street....
One of the Iconic North West dealerships.
One of the Iconic North West dealerships.
andysgriff said:
Seems like a poor business model coupled with a worse location, hardly surprising.
Bauer Millett have been trading successfully in City centre Manchester for over forty years.....When they were on Peter Street it was always THE place to go, if you wanted to see some proper exotica in the early seventies.....Blown2CV said:
as a franchised dealer you are at the mercy of the manufacturer. They set the standards required to have a franchise, and they can change them whenever they wish. They only get more stringent over time. If you have multiple franchises, you are very exposed. The mfrs are probably even on at them to buy the standard desks, chairs, fixtures and fittings... it's an expensive game to play. If you run an unusual business model involving lots of oddball individual imports then you will find it hard to keep a consistent cashflow, and that's in addition to the franchise business. I think they just tried to do too much, in an age where you can no longer just say "yea i am a fiat dealer now", and that's all you need to do. As far as I know when they lost Alfa, they decided to just stick with the imports business... not sure it was the right move.
Might have been bullst, but I was talking to a salesman in an exclusive Audi showroom near me, and he said the manufacturer sometimes sends plain clothed "inspectors" to check up on the state of the plush showroom, and even if there is one single light bulb out it is seriously frowned upon.Gassing Station | Yank Motors | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff