Why is every bike in Germany brand new.

[Kudoscycles]

I posted this elsewhere but it deserves it's own thread.
Sitting in the evening in Konstanz,over the lake from Friedrichshafen(Eurobike)I couldn't help noticing that every bike looked almost new. I spoke to a sales guy at the show and he advised that is why the rrp had to be high,with big margins for the dealer. A 2000 euro plus bike is really worthless after 3 years but the dealer will give perhaps 4-500 euro trade in against a new bike,effectively he is giving you back your own money but that money is used for the deposit on the new bike. Your battery is probably pretty much exhausted and the replacement cost might be 700 euros.
Hence there is no incentive to retain an old bike,you are almost forced into changing an e-bike every few years. It's good business for the bike retailers but hardly green,what happens to the old bikes and batteries?
Dave
KudosCycles

 

[flecc]

Like most EU countries I daresay their scrap is exported to China to make new products. That, together with the fact that the Germans are the wealthiest of Europeans, probably makes for a greater willingness to scrap early. A bit like the Japanese obsession with owning the latest of everything.

I can also see a hidden benefit of that very high initial pricing. It makes battery prices seem proportionally much lower than in our UK market where there have been many quite low cost e-bikes costing as little as many batteries.

 

[oigoi]

Personally Dave I don't like the way they do things - wanting people to throw their bike away every few years and buy a new one is very wasteful.

One thing I do like that you have done when introducing your bikes is to keep costs of spares like batteries a sensible price.

As a manufacturer, what do you advise your customers to do with a dead battery? Do you take them back and send them for recycling or advise them where they can be recycled?

 

[Kudoscycles]

Oigoi.
The german business model is the exact opposite of KudosCycles....we sell at low margins with fair prices for replacement batteries. Also the Lithium Phosphate battery is the greenest of the Lithium series,it has no harmful toxins,phosphate is a natural material so is easily and safely disposed of. I suspect my business model will be good for the UK but not work in Germany.
Dave
KudosCycles

 

[dmcgoldrick]

german 'model' ensures repeat business where initial cost is not a problem to the buyer. the uk will eventually need to move to this way of trading for ebikes. selling spares is ok for small operations with low overheads, but all the margin is in getting people to get new bikes and tempting them by offering a trade in.
new bike every 3 years sounds just the job if a reasonable p/x offered at a time when a new battery would be required.'recycling' is now a fully established industry. people dont need to throw old bikes in the canal anymore.
when i come to change i will be looking for p/x.......even if i need to go to germany to make the purchase.
regards

 

[eddieo]

There is a good market for used E bikes in the UK, so I think maybe we are different. Mind you I have not looked on German ebay.....

 

[banbury frank]

Hi

I have done a lot off business in Austria and Germany

In A previous life in Telecoms

The Germans will BUY Products made in Germany First

It Keeps them all in work and Good wages and good working conditions

and High value brands Mercedes Volkswagen BMW

So the Bosch Motor will win Hands down every time

Because it is Made in Germany



Frank

 

[oigoi]

I don't see why something has to be inflated in price to allow for trade ins - all that happens is the buyer is given an inflated artificial value of their used bike.

Why not just have a realistic bike price to start with and give a realistic trade in value when the buyer wants a new bike?

 

[Ultra Motor]

I don't think this is strictly true across the board. We give our German dealers in the same margin as in the UK.....

 

[jerrysimon]

I certainly won't be trading in my EBrompton next year!

Regards

Jerry

 

[eddieo]

just back from 4.5 Weeks holiday in Croatia/Italy and we come across many German motorhomers with bikes. I have never thought they had anything special on the back of their motorhomes..far from it, just average bikes by the look of it. I doubt there market any different then others, except they are producing very good bikes themselves now and not so reliant on Japanese/Chinese I guess

The ElMoto was an exception.....

 

[flecc]

just back from 4.5 Weeks holiday in Croatia/Italy and we come across many German motorhomers with bikes. I have never thought they had anything special on the back of their motorhomes..far from it, just average bikes by the look of it.

Maybe because they are the ones who use theirs!

In Britain 2 million ordinary bikes are sold each year, but the great majority end up being used just a few times before being consigned to the back of garage. Perhaps the wealthy Germans are the same with e-bikes, large numbers using them only a few times, so they look new, a minority using them full time so looking scruffy.

 

[steveindenmark]

It is the same in Denmark. Probably one of the main reasons is that we know we can take our bikes down to the local supermarket and there is almost 100% chance that it will be there when we come out. Everyone rides bikes in Denmark and so really there is no point in nicking another one.

Plus the fact you cannot claim from your insurance company if the bike is not fitted with a specific type of locking system. All the bikes I have bought have been fitted when I collected it from the shop and the price of the lock is added to the bike.

Steve