ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
General Category => Electric Motorcycle News => Topic started by: Richard230 on August 23, 2014, 08:38:47 PM
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It looks like Brammo is having a "fire sale". They have reduced the price of the 2014 Empulse models by $5,000 and left-over 2013 bikes by $7,000. You would think that the wholesale price of the various components on the bikes would cost more than the new Empulse prices. What could be going on? Is Brammo coming out with an entirely new and substantially upgraded model for 2015? Or are they getting out of the electric motorcycle business and just want to clear out their inventory? It isn't like they really need to blow Zero into the weeds by lowering their prices that much. I don't think there is that much competition in the production electric motorcycle market. And what does this do to the resale value of the current owner's vehicles? This is really great for anyone wanting to own a high-performance electric motorcycle - if you can find one that hasn't already been sold. But what is going on? I sure can't figure it out. ???
http://www.brammo.com/us-incentives/ (http://www.brammo.com/us-incentives/)
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Great prices ! Would love one if I had not already my Zero.
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Now THAT's a fire sale! (Richard 230, You took the words right out of my mouth...er... keyboard?)
Ditch the gearbox and I'd have an Empulse R in a heardbeat at that price!
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Woah... That is a great deal!
For that price I would put up with a gearbox. Maybe I need one of those...... If I could convince my wife that we really don't need a car.
For all of those people who post dealer prices and complain about pricing, dealers, and such on this forum now is the time to get a deal on a great e bike. The Brammos really have nice components on them right out of the box.
I would guess that Brammo is either overstocked, they have a great new bike about ready to break cover, or they are in trouble financially and have to convert inventory into cash. I am just guessing.
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Since Brammo still has 2013 models in stock I think it is an overstock, cash hungry situation.
Zero seems to have won a lot more dealers over in the US and they also learned how to empty out last year models from those dealers. Selling last years e bike is like selling last years computer.
These are great bikes though and anyone shopping for an electric motorcycle should check out the Brammo at these prices.
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Since Brammo still has 2013 models in stock I think it is an overstock, cash hungry situation.
I suspect this is the case. They dropped the price on the 2013 models by $2000 earlier in the year, but I suppose that was not enough to clear out inventory.
It'll be interesting to see if Zero responds.
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I hope it is that Brammo has a great new bike coming out for 2015 and it is not that Craig is selling the company and planning to move on. He did mention in an interview with a financial website earlier this year that he would like to sell out and become involved in some other project.
I would be surprised if needing cash is the issue. Brammo seems to be well funded by deep-pocket investors and selling the bikes at those prices sure wouldn't make them much (if any) profit. ??? I am pretty sure that they would loose money on every sale. I have to admit though, I am surprised that there still are 2013 models available in showrooms.
It really seems like the Empulse is a very well designed and developed product. Complaints about problems on the Empulse on the Brammo Owners Forum have been very minimal (especially compared with what is posted here about Zero bikes) and the factory staff seems to jump right on any issues and resolves them very quickly to the owner's satisfaction.
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Perhaps the reason that Brammo is having a big sale is that the prices of their bikes next year will be lower than this year. According to this article by Clean Rider the cost of lithium batteries is dropping rapidly. That is good news for everyone in the EV industry, especially consumers:
http://cleanrider.com/price-lithium-batteries-declining-faster-expected/ (http://cleanrider.com/price-lithium-batteries-declining-faster-expected/)
Clean Rider has also picked up the story about Brammo dropping their prices this year, which also includes the 2014 models that have been imported into Europe: http://cleanrider.com/going-brammo/ (http://cleanrider.com/going-brammo/)
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I hope it is that Brammo has a great new bike coming out for 2015 and it is not that Craig is selling the company and planning to move on. He did mention in an interview with a financial website earlier this year that he would like to sell out and become involved in some other project.
I would be surprised if needing cash is the issue. Brammo seems to be well funded by deep-pocket investors and selling the bikes at those prices sure wouldn't make them much (if any) profit. ??? I am pretty sure that they would loose money on every sale.
When the leader of a company mentions in an interview that he wants to move on, that is a fairly effective way to throw a wet blanket on sales and employee morale.
Deep pocket investors get really grumpy about losing money on every sale and obviously missing sales targets for 2 model years. The only reason that they invest money is to make more and if sales targets and income numbers are not met changes happen to drive the numbers.
It seems that Brammo is ahead of Zero in terms of quality and customer support but they failed to build a quality dealer and sales network so far and that has to hurt their sales. I would not buy one of these early tech bikes if I did not have a local dealer that I could trust.
One thing is for sure, if a company can not hit it's sales targets it can not survive as sales success fuels the bottom line no matter what the product is.
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He did mention in an interview with a financial website earlier this year that he would like to sell out and become involved in some other project.
Hi Richard. I don't recall Craig saying that ever. Do you have a reference?
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He did mention in an interview with a financial website earlier this year that he would like to sell out and become involved in some other project.
Hi Richard. I don't recall Craig saying that ever. Do you have a reference?
I seem to recall that comment was in one of the articles that you posted a link to earlier this year. Craig was being interviewed by a reporter from a financial publication, as I recall. I believe that I may have posted a comment about that under that thread on your forum. I'll try to find it later today.
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As I recall, he mentioned in several interviews that he was planing an IPO as soon as possible, even mentioning 2015. He also said that he was still interested in developing an electric car....
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Here is the link to the IPO mention:
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/sbo/2013/11/brammos-bramscher-sets-2015-ipo-goal.html (http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/sbo/2013/11/brammos-bramscher-sets-2015-ipo-goal.html)
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That is probably the article that I was thinking of. I must have interpreted his comments (which I read late last year) about going IPO and developing an electric car as Craig being interested in moving away from the motorcycle business and back into cars, where the volume and financing might make the business more lucrative.
I believe that there is a good potential market for an electric sports car, now that Tesla no longer markets such a vehicle. Also, he could get into the three-wheel electric car business. That would be a much easier road to follow than going with four wheels. A three-wheeler is classified by DOT as a motorcycle and does not have to conform to all of the very expensive crash and other standards required for four-wheelers. Plus, having so much experience developing and manufacturing motorcycles and sourcing their components, it would be much easier to follow that path than it was when he was fooling around with the Atom.
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I think they should stick to one thing. Electric motorcycle is a tough business, the electric car business is even tougher. Just ask Fisker, Coda, Aptera, Think, Mia, etc. etc.
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I agree about the risks of moving into the electric car business. Polaris just introduced (http://www.cycleworld.com/2014/07/27/2015-polaris-slingshot-motorcycle-review-first-ride-three-wheeler-photos-specifications/) the Slingshot, a 3 wheeled "car" .. given their involvement with Brammo, and Brammo's earlier experience with the Atom, I don't doubt some discussions have taken place about producing an electric Slingshot.
If the Slingshot sells well - as a $20k side-by-side motorcycle with (depending on state) helmet and licensing requirements - then maybe we'll see an electric version from Brammo. I'm not holding my breath.