I recently received a comment on our dealership’s status with CFMOTO-US on one of the national scooter forums.

“I have to ask, WHY did they drop you as a DEALER? There has to be a reason for them to drop you.

Maybe its because you do not sell enough of them, do they have a quota etc?

Alleyoop”


Alleyoop,

Good question. And the answer is: Your guess is as good as mine!

Here's a brief recap.

My business partner stared selling CFMOTO produced scoots in 2006.

CFMOTO hit the US scooter scene big time in 2007 and 2008. They had 3 150cc machines, the Glory, eCharm, eJewel, the 250cc Fashion, and the V Twins, the V3 and V5. They were trying hard to bring the reputation of a mainland Chinese scooter maker up in stature. Their presence at Dealer Expo in Indianapolis was huge!

They announced the creation of a new 250, the Jetmax, that was supposed to debut as a 2010 model.

The original management, Lev Mirman, was replaced by a CEO from China. That is when the promises were made...and broken. We were told that the 250's would become fuel injected and that there would be a introduction of a couple of 650cc motorcycles in the late summer of 2010(I guess they are finally expected this spring). We were told that although the company was going to significantly expand its off-road, atv/utv, lineup, they would in no way forget the dealers that helped them get established.

2011 proved be a " house cleaning" year. Since no new scooters had been brought in since 2009, CFMOTO-US wanted to "clear-out" the warehouses of all remaining 2009 models. They dropped the price of a 150 scooter to $500 !!! They dropped the 250's to a grand !!
Talk about a sale! It worked, they were cleaned out by fall 2011.
So we spent 2011 and into 2012 selling the 2009 models.

They started 2012 with nothing to sell and product " due in any moment" of course, nothing materialized. They started pushing the ATV line pretty hard. The president of CFMOTO US was recalled to China...and not replaced. They brought in two new guys that had been bounced out of a couple of North American powersports companies. We were sent new dealer contracts to sign. They fired our rep, who had been with them for a number of years. And then complete SILENCE.

Not a peep throughout most of 2012. No scooters to sell, no V5's no Jetmax's. As for parts, they were able to be ordered online through the dealer page at CFMOTO-US.
Then one day I try to log on to order some parts....nada...zilch..bupkiss. I figured it must be some computer glitch. The following day I get a call from a customer that says " You guys aren't listed on the dealer locator page anymore."
Yep. Not a word of warning. Not a letter, no phone call, nothing. So I call and get the new guy's voice mail. Leave numerous messages...never get a return phone call.

I finally get one of the new management personnel to return my phone call. I ask why we were terminated without so much as the courtesy of a phone call? He says, "I don't know, that not my department"
When I asked how I'm now supposed to get parts for the hundreds CFMOTO's we've sold; he suggests that I call around and find an existing dealer that might agree to sell us parts.

Now when I take a good look at the dealer locator page I see that they dumped numerous dealers and that the only ones left are mainly ATV/UTV dealers. I think the closest scooter dealer to me is outside Buffalo, NY some 3 hours away.

The good news is that with the pull-out of CFMOTO in the scooter market, that prompted us to become a SYM dealer. We are very happy working with SYM and their American distributor, Alliance Powersports.