An Opinion on Triumph

[Allred]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofIHT4pOILo

An interesting opinion on the current condition of Triumph.

Stuart Fillingham has a Guy Martin-type accent and may be difficult to understand, but he speaks so slowly that I find I have to increase the YouTube video playback speed to 1.25 or even 1.5 to move it along.

Interesting nevertheless.

[motogrady]

Ya, kind of a bummer.  

I kind of liken this situation to what's been happening for the last 50 years here in the states.
With just about everything.

The answer, I dunno.   How can one compete with the lower salaries from abroad, the less stringent laws that govern manufacturing and labor, the upper management types that seem to only find outsourcing overseas is the only way to keep the profits coming in?

Effing shame really, I didn't know they had sold out to Taiwan, in a sense.  

Where have the John Wayne's, the Howard Hughes, the Winston's Churchill's, gone?

[Allred]

motogrady wrote

Where have the John Wayne's, the Howard Hughes, the Winston's Churchill's, gone?

Haven't you heard, John Wayne, Howard Hughes and Winston Churchill were all outspoken racists and homophobes, traitors to the cause, and should be erased from our history.

The world has gone crazy, the lunatics have been let out of the asylums.

[motogrady]

Ain't that the truth

[Fatfatboy]

Sad state of affairs.
It’s a tuff spot to be in as a manufacturer.
They want to produce good products. They want to pay their people well and give health care and retirement but this cost money.

The people want good products at a the cheapest price they can get it for.
Is it possible to be able do both.
I think not.

[Mad4TheCrest]

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[motogrady]

Mad4TheCrest wrote

I guess a key question is just how much would you need to sell a Triumph for in order to make money if all manufacturing was done in the UK?  Would you be able to keep the entry level models (eg, Street Twin or T100) affordable? Could you let entry levels have minuscule margins and make it up on ever more premium high-end models? My guess is Triumph has done the math six ways from Sunday and the only answer they get is foreign manufacture. The same pressures that are enticing (forcing?) HD to build in India.

Another factor might be that Thai factories are physically closer to the huge Asian bike market, which cuts a lot of shipping costs compared to shipping from the UK.

So far I have no quality issues with my Thai-built Street Triple or Tiger 800. My old air-cooled 795cc Bonnie T100 was the last year of that model built in the UK (2004), and although it was a nice piece of work I don't see any quality difference.

At 160k

Well, imo, it's a culmination of things really.  The small salaries they pay in Asia.  The  lack of benefis they pay.  The insurances, safety requirements, worker qualifications costs, EPA regulations they don't have to pay or follow. I don't wanna piss anyone off here, but the Unions thing we here in the USA and the UK have to deal with, have to add a ton on what it costs to produce and manufacture.  Just the paper and office work, and it's expense, all this stuff generates has to be huge.

Add on the hunger factor, the hustle factor, geez.  
A guy living in a grass/mud hut, given the opportunity to make a better life for himself, seems to me
would be a bit more motivated than a guy knowing there is always gonna be the dole, a warm house and a tv to watch no matter how much he does.  

The quality thing, eh.  A brother of mine, bought a new Jeep Cherokee a good while back.  
Blew 2 motors in it.   Before 90k.  They would not pay for the 3rd one.  Said they had fulfilled their obligation.  He pays for the 3rd one.  Trades it in on a Toyota Camery.  At 160k he gets a letter, a recall
from Toyota.  Due to the number of motors failing on his model/year, they replace the engine for free.  
At 160k.  He's got 285k on it now, and says he will never buy another American vehicle again.