Photo: Triumph
According to the Sunday Times Rich List, John Bloor, the owner of Triumph Motorcycles managed to transform a dying motorcycle manufacturer into a billion-pound sterling business. The mentioned source adds that the value of Triumph Motorcycles is estimated today at £1.025 billion. That is $1.577 billion or €1.430 b.
While these figures alone are not necessarily impressive by their own, comparing them with what Bloor paid for Triumph back in the day will certainly put an admirative smile on your faces.
In 1983, Triumph was struggling at the very end of its strength. Bloor bought the company from liquidation for £150,000 ($230,000 or €209,000 by today's exchange rates) and started to slowly work his way up.
In an industry dominated by the traditional Japanese in-line four bikes, Triumph re-discovered a niche worth exploring. With constant investments aided by money from Bloor's other housebuilding business, Triumph kept on growing and developing models that have found a loyal following, despite some of them still in need of better craftsmanship and QA.
As cool as the Modern Classic machines look, it is not hard to find riders who can provide a hefty list of things Triumph should do to make these bikes significantly better, with suspensions being only one of the entries.
Triumph operates six factories worldwide: two in Hinckley, UK, three in Chonburi, Thailand, and one is in Manaus, Brazil. In 2014, Triumph sold over 52,000 units and topped the sales charts of new bikes over 500cc in the UK. The company accounts for 18.7% of new motorcycle sales in the UK, up a hefty eight percent since 2013, according to visordown. We's say that after gettinga brush with demis in 1983, Triumph has become... triumphant, isn't it?
In 1983, Triumph was struggling at the very end of its strength. Bloor bought the company from liquidation for £150,000 ($230,000 or €209,000 by today's exchange rates) and started to slowly work his way up.
It took years to rebuild Triumph's damaged image
With a very tarnished image in both the domestic and international markets, the debut of Triumph's Bloor era was not particularly successful. However, the big change came when the company owner understood that Triumph's special twin and triple engines was the thing that customers were most attracted to.In an industry dominated by the traditional Japanese in-line four bikes, Triumph re-discovered a niche worth exploring. With constant investments aided by money from Bloor's other housebuilding business, Triumph kept on growing and developing models that have found a loyal following, despite some of them still in need of better craftsmanship and QA.
As cool as the Modern Classic machines look, it is not hard to find riders who can provide a hefty list of things Triumph should do to make these bikes significantly better, with suspensions being only one of the entries.
Triumph operates six factories worldwide: two in Hinckley, UK, three in Chonburi, Thailand, and one is in Manaus, Brazil. In 2014, Triumph sold over 52,000 units and topped the sales charts of new bikes over 500cc in the UK. The company accounts for 18.7% of new motorcycle sales in the UK, up a hefty eight percent since 2013, according to visordown. We's say that after gettinga brush with demis in 1983, Triumph has become... triumphant, isn't it?
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