Honda Canada to create generic stores
February 3, 2007
budlight
Honda Canada is starting to move to combined retail stores where cars, motorcycles, and weedeaters are all sold under one roof. Doug Klassen at Forty Years on Two Wheels comments on this matter expertly. It has always seemed to me that car dealers always want to be motorcycle dealers, but can never quite pull it off, people expect two different things in cars and motorcycles. Cars are a necessity, where a motorcycle is a luxury, but more than just that, a hobby, a passion, a culture. I would expect Honda out of all the motorcycle manufacturers to understand this. I mean it seemed that at one point they had the psychology of selling motorcycles down to an art. What happened? I’m all for corporations making decisions to increase sales, but at what cost? I hope this doesn’t come stateside. Arctic Cat is currently making a similar move with their selling four wheelers at Bass Pro shops, which end up all being worked on by a real Arctic Cat dealer. I’m very surprised at this move by Honda, as I had always thought in the U.S. Honda Motorcycles tried to distance themselves from the car company. I have seen them often tied in with the power equipment arm, but never seemed to think that any harm.
