Triumph becomes tragedy for famous British marque
By
DIANA DEKKER
in London Never again will a Triumph Bonneville roar out of the Triumph motorcycle co-operative at Meriden in England. The co-operative went into liquidation late in August and everything has since been sold. The liquidators, Peat Marwick, Mitchell and Company, of Birmingham, have disposed of the property to one buyer, the plant and spares to another and the “intellectual property rights” to someone else.
The person who bought the intellectual property rights, in conjunction with the West Midlands County Council, “might or might not begin to manufacture spares, and might or might not begin limited production of motor-cycles,” said Mr Roger Dickins of the liqui-
dating company. “It was a British company — I am not at liberty to say which — which bought the name and the intellectual property rights. I cannot really believe it has paid what it did without intending to produce motorbikes at some stage. It won’t be for a while, though.” With the sale went the plans for the Phoenix, the motor-cycle which remains a dream in the form of a prototype super-bike exhibited at a British motorcycle show last year. The co-operative was started in 1974 when Mr Anthony Wedgewood Benn, then Secretary of State for Industry, gave the workersdirectors an initial grant of £ 4.25 million with an additional loan of £750,000. The factory had been owned previously by 8.5. A.,
which closed it in 1973 with the loss of 1750 jobs and transferred production to Small Heath in Birmingham.
But the co-operative was unable to match the design and market penetration of its Japanese competitors and soon lost its position as a supplier of motor-cycles to British police forces which began to buy more sophisticated foreign machines. Bills and costs mounted. The co-operative tried to find partners and for a while assembled the baby model of the Italian superbike makers, Moto Guzzi, to try to extend the model range. It talked to Marubeni and Suzuki of Japan about partnership and to Armstrong Equipment of Hull, an auto-
mative company. Motor-cycle sales still slumped and the Japanese share of the diminishing market rose. The coming
demise of the mighty Triumph was to be one more sad chapter in the decline of the whole British motor-cycle industry which,
in the 19505, held 70 per cent of the world market. In October, 1981, the Government wrote off the £ 10.65 million debt owed by
the Meriden company to the Department of Trade and Industry.
At that stage, 720 men were making 320 motorcycles a week. By January, 1983. 185 men were making 80 Bonnevilles a week. By March 30 men were tending the components'at the plant and the rest had been laid off indefinitely. Yet even in late 1981, devotees of Triumph refused to believe that the aristocratic British brandname could go under. “The most famous Triumph of all, the Bonneville," wrote the "Guardian" in October, 1981, "is not the fastest or cheapest of the 750 s but, with its twin front discs, electric start, alloy wheels, and full fairing has the character and looks of a thoroughbred.
"At rest it brings admiring, even envious glances. At full whack its growling, roaring engine defies the money-lenders, importers, pundits, and politicians all.” The pessimists were proved right and in August the co-operative went into liquidation with liabilities of almost £4 million. The principal creditors were its bankers who were owed £ 1.3 million; the West Midlands County Council, which lent £350,000; and the Coventry City Council, which was owed £90,000 in unpaid rates. Money was also owed elsewhere.’ The liquidators said that the main asset was the factory, valued at £1 million. The machinery was said to be worth about £ 150.000 and the spares stock £60,000.
It will be small comfort to the 2000 workers who set, up their co-operative with such high hopes in 1974 to know that the motor-cycle trade in general continues to slump in Britain. The "Financial Times" reported recently that there would only be sales of about 175.000 units this year — a 25 per cent drop on last year and little more than half the 315,000 units of 1980. The "Financial Times" said that the only sector to show any growth had been scooters, sales of which w-ere up 8 per cent to a mere 300. “Higher unemployment among the 16 to 24" agegroup, the principal buyers of powered two-wheelers, and more restrictive legisla-
tion on learner riders are blamed by the trade for the falling off in sales." the newspaper said. "It is not just the low unit sales which are worrying Britain's 2000 dealers Overproduction during the last two years by Japanese manufacturers, who account for more than 90 per cent of the British market, has produced prolonged deep discounting. which has badly affected traders' margins. “The big four importers — Honda. Suzuki. Yamaha, and Kawasaki — claim to have stocks under much tighter control. "But the traditional winter drop in sales, likely to be far worse than usual this year, has raised doubts about the ability of some dealers to survive until the spring selling season."
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