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[Richard230]

Check this page out for huge price reductions on all of Brammo's 2013 and 2014 models:  http://www.brammo.com/us-incentives/

[Le Z Turbo]

What's the meaning of these insane prices: is Brammo going to close ? Or is there a new model coming out ?
Laurent

[Richard230]

What's the meaning of these insane prices: is Brammo going to close ? Or is there a new model coming out ?
Laurent

I don't have a clue, but I have never seen a vehicle manufacturer cut prices of current models (of any vehicle) to that extent, especially when the model year and the riding season isn't yet over.  My dealer still has a new 2011 Zero on the showroom floor for only $1500 off of its original list price (maybe they need a bigger discount on that bike).  Many manufacturers will cut prices maybe 5 or 10% to clear out the old stocks to make room for the new models, but not by 25% to 40% - and in August?  Plus, how many Brammos could be left in the pipeline?  I doubt they were spitting out hundreds a month?  I just don't get it.  But I am looking forward future announcements to find out what all this was about.

[Doug S]

There are two threads on this issue; they need to be merged.

On the other one, it was pointed out that Craig Bramscher, founder of Brammo, has said that he wants to do an IPO on Brammo in 2015, and that the company is trying to raise the funds to do so. I'm guessing that cash in hand is better than excess inventory, so they're trying to reduce old inventory so the company looks more attractive to investors.

[Richard230]

There are two threads on this issue; they need to be merged.

On the other one, it was pointed out that Craig Bramscher, founder of Brammo, has said that he wants to do an IPO on Brammo in 2015, and that the company is trying to raise the funds to do so. I'm guessing that cash in hand is better than excess inventory, so they're trying to reduce old inventory so the company looks more attractive to investors.

I agree, that seems a likely business reason for the "fire sale".  I also believe that Craig Bramscher would like to sell out and take the cash to create another new start-up business.  I talked to him a couple of years ago at a local race track and he seemed to me to be in the motorcycle business more for the fun of developing (and racing) a high-performance motorcycle than for money to be made selling it. 

Like many business people, the fun is in creating a new product, not managing and selling it after the product matures.  My son-in-law just quit his job and took a $20K a year cut in salary so that he could go to work for his former boss who had quit the company that he created, sold out his interest for cash and started a new company to advance the design of his original concept.

[Roan]

Why isn't there any information coming out and leave us guessing? A reduction of more than 30% is huge in motorcycle business. I've never seen it before. Great for new buyers of course, but all Brammo owners/dealers are facing a big write off for the bikes they allready bought. I heard that instead of putting money in marketing Brammo decided to reduce prices.
Even if this action is termporaily it affects the second hand value of all the bikes sold.

[Richard230]

It occurs to me that the real Brammo enthusiasts that jumped on the $$$ Empulse R when it first came out due to its high performance and specifications, are going to be very irritated if Brammo comes out with a new 2015 super Empulse R that they would love to buy, only to find that their current bike is worth something like $5000 less than they would have thought as a trade in on the new model.  That will reinforce the idea that no early adopter goes unpunished - as we all well know.   

I know that a lot of enthusiasts are hoping that this price reduction heralds the introduction of a new, even higher performance and more desirable 2015 model that will be well worth a $5000 price increase over the current Brammo models.  Something like the RR model, perhaps.  But then the RR bike doesn't have a transmission and really doesn't seem to hint at any big improvements that would translate to a major upgrade for the 2015 production bike.  So the reason behind the "promotional" temporary price reductions remain a mystery to me.    

Finally, I wonder what Brammo's newest dealer, Harlan at Hollywood Electrics, thinks about all this - considering his previous experience selling Brammo products?   

[protomech]

This promo pricing came down very quickly after Hollywood Electrics announced they were signing up as a Brammo Dealer. I suspect they were aware of upcoming promos.

[Richard230]

Perhaps this news article might offer a partial answer to this mystery:  http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20140827/NEWS/140829737

And then we have this new product (which I knew was coming):  http://www.polaris.com/en-us/ranger-utv/ranger-ev-avalanche-gray

[kensiko]

Looking good for them.

[Richard230]

More logs on the fire:  http://insideevs.com/brammo-fire-sale-story-behind-story/

[benswing]

Apparently it is indeed to increase market share ahead of the IPO.

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1094120_brammo-electric-motorcycle-prices-cut-by-5000-to-7000

[Richard230]

Well, I found this quote from a Polaris press release in the article that I referenced above to be quite informative:

Under Homan’s leadership, the Global Adjacent Markets business will have responsibility for all Small Vehicles product lines, including GEM, Goupil, Aixam/Mega and Brammo, as well as all commercial, Brutus, government and B2B applications of Off-Road Vehicles (ORV), Snow and Motorcycles outside Polaris’ traditional dealer channels. Homan’s team will also have responsibility for all merger and acquisition activity related to adjacent markets. Polaris’ Defense product line will report financial results through the Global Adjacent Markets business, but continue to operate as a separate business line.

So what is going on?  Will there be an Brammo IPO next year, as I first suspected?  Or will the entire Brammo brand be absorbed by Polaris, marketed through their dealers and manufactured in one of their plants, with Brammo supplying the batteries and performing R&D for Polaris as a semi-in-house consultant?  To me, that makes more business sense than going with an IPO and would leave Craig to go off and develop an electric sports car or to electrify Polaris's latest 3-wheel road car as a Brammo project, while the worker-bees at Brammo continue with other consulting EV projects for outside companies.