Triumph, the British motorcycle manufacturer, is looking to attract more car dealers to its network. The Leicestershire-based company wants to add eight new retailers to help boost sales and grow market share.

Open points exist in north London, east Birmingham, Reading, Peterborough and Cambridge, Northampton and Lancashire. The company has 52 dealers and last year sold 5,000 bikes in market worth about 80,000 units a year.

Now Triumph wants to increase its market share of just over 6% to nearly 10% with sales of more than 7,000 a year. This will be achieved as a direct result of increased network coverage as well as the introduction of new models.

Its 14-bike line up will grow to 16 in May with the introduction of the Rocket III, which the firm says is the world's largest capacity production bike at 2,300cc. Its traditional Tiger and Speed Triple models are set to be replaced in the near future.

Mark Burrows, UK dealer development manager at Triumph, says the company is looking for new and innovative types of operator.

“We do not want dealers with a 'pile them high, sell them cheap' attitude. We expect each of our UK dealers to sell, on average, 100 bikes a year, which would make a healthy niche product,” he says.

Burrows says motorcycles can be highly profitable business for car dealers, with competitive margins and strong sales of accessories and merchandising. Triumph is looking for dealer partners that are able to set up a solus franchise with sufficient space to display the whole model range. Service bay requirements include a single workshop bay and at least two ramps.