| Author | Message | ||
     M2typhoon |
There's been a lot of jib-jab about the purchase of EBR but no real talk about when they will be firing up again. They need employees obviously and they might not get all the same folks back for both engineering and production. What else has to happen before they continue on? | ||
| Hughlysses |
Court had posted that there is likely a lot more to reopening than is readily apparent. I posted about it on EBRforum.com and Bruce responded:
So it sounds like there are some hurdles to jump, but he's got the right guys working on it. | ||
| Buelliedan |
Not to mention he needs to almost start from scratch with his dealer network as I am sure there are going to be quite a few who are not interested in selling EBRs any longer. I am waiting to talk with the new EBR to see what they are going to offer the dealers. I am hopeful they have a good plan. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Dan- It's encouraging that you're interested to talk to them; I'm sure it's been a hard ~4 months for the dealers. | ||
| Buelliedan |
I have what I think is a great plan that I want to discuss with Bruce on how to sell his current inventory of EBRs that he acquired. I hope he is open to it as I think it will be great for both the dealers and him. But I am not wanting to talk about it in public. Something that needs to be between Bruce and I first. | ||
| Hughlysses |
Those bikes would seem to be a huge question mark for Bruce, and I'm sure you have a far better idea on what to do with them than we would. If those bikes can be sold even at "fire sale" prices, it's enough for Bruce to recover his $2.25M investment in the company. | ||
| Buelliedan |
Have you been reading my mind Hugh? | ||
| Hughlysses |
Maybe great minds think alike?  | ||
| Ebrfan |
^^^ I was also thinking of this and did some quick math on a "fire sale" of the remaining inventory yesterday and came to the conclusion that Bruce got one hell of a deal on EBR. A sale like that on the remaining stock would be the best thing for the new EBR. It would make for a lot of "free" advertising and will create a sweet customer base almost immediately. To keep his remaining dealer network, and not alienate them with the sale, he would have to make them some mutually equitable offer on their remaining inventory; but this would be a mere pittance to having cleared his books of the cost of buying EBR. Plus he could put the "fire sale" money to work designing and manufacturing next year's models to keep the money steadily flowing in for years to come. | ||
| Hughlysses |
The dilemma of heavily discounting the remaining 1190's is it makes it awfully hard to try to go back for selling them for $15k-$19k next year. Who knows- with the tooling all paid for and no remaining debt, maybe they can produce and sell them much cheaper now than in the past. Otherwise, it seems they'd need to add significant improvements to the next (2016, 2017?) models to justify a return to the former pricing. This seems pretty obvious so I'm sure some much sharper brains than mind are working on the problem right now, if they haven't already come up with a strategy. | ||
| Oddball |
Hughlysses, If you look at 19K as THE price then anything under that is discounted. They have been discounted since last fall wasn't it? Even that, it would appear, did not significantly increase sales volume. Those machines are now 2 model years back. Just observing the bids on auction sites seems to show a distinct end of bidding interest at the 5 figure mark while dealer interests are typically 12K and up. One side or the other will have to cross the no man's land to move the inventory. I doubt 19K will be seen again. Even at 15K it would probably have to be produced like the VMAX with product only made for pre-sold orders. They may need to jump into the electric market. If they did actually have designs for such. Come back in a year or two with a killer machine in, hopefully, a market not already dominated by one or more competitors. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I've been scouring the internet on and off for the past week but haven't found a peep about what's going on at EBR. Hopefully no news is good news at this point. The only EBR-related news I found is that the EBR-designed Hero HX250R has been spotted being tested in India as reported on a slew of Indian motorcycle sites. I'd guess Hero has already been to East Troy and picked up their $2.8M worth of stuff and taken it home. It'll be really interesting to see how long it takes them (on their own) to get this bike into production. (Message edited by Hughlysses on August 19, 2015) | ||
| Reepicheep |
It would be good for EBR at this point if it turns out to be a really successful bike. (And bad for Hero... who didn't cough up $10M in a stunt to try and get control EBR, and instead ended up writing down $30M total in losses *and* they killed their golden goose... I don't know for a fact if that's what happened, but if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck...) (Message edited by reepicheep on August 19, 2015) | ||
| Anonymous |
As of last week, Hero's pile of parts (and bikes) was still in the States but no longer at 2799 Buell Drive. The HX250R's they're testing in India were sent there prior to EBR's closure. The 250 was almost fully tooled, even if the suppliers chosen couldn't necessarily make the parts. The project was in that tough 95 percent finished phase, with a fair amount of heavy lifting required to finish it, lifting that escalated by about 1000 percent as not a single EBR employee who was working on the project April 14th now has anything to do with it. May Hero have an interesting and educational experience finishing it. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Chuckle.  | ||
| Ace117 |
 and a big middle finger 2 them as well HAHA!!!!! | ||
| Hughlysses |
Bruce posted this short update to Facebook earlier today in response to a bunch of posts about what EBR should be doing:
 | ||
| Lake_bueller |
a bunch of posts about what EBR should be doing If they're all so smart about what EBR "should be doing", they could have spent the $2.5 million and done it themselves. What a bunch of idiots!! | ||
| Court |
Confirms one of the things I was wondering about. My bet is they are going about 1,000mph. | ||
| Hughlysses |
If they're all so smart about what EBR "should be doing", they could have spent the $2.5 million and done it themselves. What a bunch of idiots!! Most of the posts are respectful, mainly people stating what they hope EBR will do, like start supplying race and/or replacement parts soon, or honoring warranties for existing bikes, etc. I think Bruce was just saying "I hear you and I'm working as fast as I can." | ||
| Dave |
I appreciate the brief communication and thinks it is extremely valuable to the EBR & Buell riders, owners, & supporters. Keeps us jazzed about "tomorrow". DAve | ||
| Davegess |
May Hero have an interesting and educational experience finishing it.  I don't think they had any idea the large pile o's*** they had to move to finish that thing; much of it self created. | ||
| Coolice |
 | ||
| Snacktoast |
Preach on boys! | ||
| Court |
I see HERO, instantly, much like the classic dog v. car. Once you get it . . . what the hell do you do with it. I can hold Eric Clapton's Strat . . . . . don't make me a player. | ||
| Hughlysses |
^ Great analogy. And much like EBR and Hero, even if Clapton gave you lessons for a couple of years, you'd be a better player, but you still wouldn't be anywhere close to Clapton. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Court, one of the best comments of the year! | ||
| Ernest |
"I was also thinking of this and did some quick math on a "fire sale" of the remaining inventory" From what I witnessed, anyone that wanted fire sale prices could have already purchased bank repossessions from failed dealership stock. I seen all models in the crate, with bids and buy it now starting at $8,500. They are still trickling into the market on ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Other-Makes-EBR-/400986530 225?forcerrptr=true&hash=item5d5ca8e1b1&item=40098 6530225 If I was a dealer, I would be buying these things by the truckload as cheap as possible. With EBR coming back online, you would then have N.O.S. to advertise while waiting for the new shipment. "NOS PRICED TO SELL, THEY ALL MUST GO BEFORE NEW SHIPMENT ARIVES" blah blah blah, ridiculous catch phrase... Now the market knows two things, you sell EBR, it sounds like you have been selling EBR (because you have NOS) and you are the place to go to when the new stock arrives. Additionally, with enough cash, you could be THE start-up EBR re-launch dealership by monopolizing all N.O.S. crate bikes. You are the only source for a new EBR. The company re-launch generates (hopefully) momentum, you are boots on the ground day one, welcome to the profits. Mr.B doesn't look like the web surfing always updating type. I wonder if he's considered hiring a social media expert to do the job. He does however look like someone who would murder a guy paid to follow him around and post daily social media updates. | ||
| Sparky |
"If I was a dealer". You are coming across like more like an ambulance chasing lawyer, not a dealer, especially when you say things like, "He does however look like someone who would murder a guy paid to follow him around and post daily social media updates"! So STFU. LOL | ||
| Buelliedan |
Unfortunately there is no guarantee that all of those bikes that have been sold lately on e-bay will have any kind of a warranty once EBR returns so that might not be such a good deal. I am/was an EBR dealer but I have not heard anything lately from EBR/Bruce. Hopefully soon. The 2015 sales year is basically over as 2016 bikes are now rolling into delaers showrooms. That e-bay ad you posted above has a price of $12,000. Not sure where you are seeing bikes in the crate selling for $8,500? (Message edited by buelliedan on September 03, 2015) |
