An article about Mr. Pedersen:
Family business keeps the balance Motorcycle dealer Mogens Pedersen in Odense for more than 50 years has tried it all. The sons have the upper hand and it is going well - despite the crisis in the industry.
By Kurt Ellegaard
March 18, 2010 - 5:00PM
Mogens Pedersen has tried it all on the two-wheeler, from three Danish championships in speed strial, which were popular in his young years, to motocross, 1000 meters race and more with many events abroad. It was then that well-known drivers like Ejvind Hansen and Poul Kalør from Fyn, Arne Nielsen, Sorø and Knud Nielsen were the big names. Mogens Pedersen has been 75 years old. Shortly before he turned 50 in 1983, after a break due to the motorcycle business, he made his road racing debut on a BMW R100. He's in the store every day with Mrs. Inge. It is now the two sons, Peder, 48, and Steen, 42, who run the business, which they have done in recent years, while Sister Mette takes care of the transition and the accounts.
Mogens Pedersen was trained as a mechanic in a small village near Nyborg, and has been bitten by the two-wheelers over the years. The house, which Mogens Pedersen moved to from smaller rooms on Vesterbro in Odense in autumn 1977, today contains a very large exhibition, a department with tracksuits and accessories, and the workshop – a total of 1100 square meters under the roof. During the summer months there are 10-11 employees.
Weeded out in brands Mogens Pedersen makes no secret of the fact that it is primarily the sons' fault that things are going as well as the accounts show.
In fact, so good that they were named gazelle company by the daily newspaper Børsen in 2007. Both sons are educated at Merc. They were born and raised with motorcycles, and helped in the boyhood years. In 1999, they entered the company, where they were immediately "cleared" up, as Steen notes.
- We had too many motorcycle brands, and got carried away well and truly. Today we have "only" two brands, which we believe are the best - BMW and Honda. There is a curl with BMW, which actually fired us when it was decided that BMW car dealers should also sell motorcycles, but as you know, it did not work. Car and motorcycle customers are very different. BMW even came back and asked us to continue. We are happy about this today, explains Steen, who has the title of CEO. He adds:
- Dad has had the same customers for more than 30 years who come back again and again, and they come from Copenhagen to Frederikshavn.
Motorcycle for the lady While we're talking in the store, a family comes from Copenhagen who just had to look at a motorcycle for junior.
This is where Mogens Pedersen breaks in. - In fact, it is my many loyal customers that we live well from. I have always set service and good customer care very high, and Peder and Steen continue to do so in an exemplary way.
Many customers have extended with a motorcycle to the lady. She no longer wants to sit at the back, but wants her own bike, and it's relatively new. Some also come to buy for the children. The business set a new sales record in 2009, with sales of 410 bicycles.
- We earned slightly less in 2009 than in 2008, when we sold 402 motorcycles, but the result in 2009 was very satisfactory.
Total sales of motorcycles decreased in 2009 compared to 2008, when 6959 units were sold in the country, up from just under 10,000 motorcycles in 2007. The figures for 2009 are not yet clear, but after the first half of the year it looked bleak. Keep in mind, these are relatively expensive motorcycles we offer. Well about 80,000-90,000 kroner on average, and some much more expensive.
Expensive bikes cheaper The more expensive motorcycles have become a bit cheaper.
Prices tend to rise in the spring, but this is not the case this year, when they have become cheaper in the big competition, but we can look back on a ten-fold increase in turnover since 1997. I give that credit to our two sons. They focus more on the business and the financial result than I might have in the
past, explains Mogens Pedersen, while Steen advises the couple from Copenhagen and their son. Over 100 motorcycles, some of which were used. They have just received the latest bike, a BMW S1000 RR, which costs 273,000 kroner on the street. It was held open the other day, with good interest. It is the same motorcycle that BMW now participates in the road racing sport on the tracks.
As for 2010, the dynamic Funen motorcycle family expects a slight increase again, but it may be a little uncertain due to the very long
winter.
Submitted by Richard Hungerford at 5:20 PM on January 14, 2021.