Energica Continues US Push With Dealer Financing

An agreement with Westlake Financial Services will enable dealers to bolster their stock.

By: Justin Hughes

Nov 1, 2020 at 10:09am ET

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While motorcycle sales have been up and down in 2020, Energica continues to build on its shocking success in an unstable economy. The electric motorcycle manufacturer has announced a partnership with Westlake Financial Services to help dealers have more motorcycles in stock for an anticipated major push for US sales.

It's been a booming year for Energica. Pre-orders and production were way up in January before COVID-19 threw the world for a loop. Not even a global pandemic could keep Energica down, though, as sales continued to match pre-COVID expectations in February, bolstered by strong US sales. Complimenting the addition of broader financing options for purchasing, the new arrangement will help dealers afford the significant investment of bringing more inventory into their showrooms.

"Thanks to enormous consumer demand for the new Energica MY2020, US retail sales are likely to almost double in 2020 versus the previous year," pointed out Stefano Benatti, CEO of Energica Motor Company Inc. in a press release. That's a bold statement yet within the realm of possibility considering Energica's surprisingly positive growth in 2020. Energica has only 11 dealers in the US. This means that dealer inventory could deplete rapidly if sales go as well as the company hopes they will.

This new financing arrangement will help dealers keep sufficient inventory in stock for the anticipated high demand next year. It's not cheap for dealers to keep bikes in stock, especially high-end bikes like Energica's. My local dealer, now closed, had precisely one demo bike in stock, which I got to ride in 2017. It's hard to sell bikes you don't have, and this should enable dealers to keep not only demo bikes of all models available but also to have enough bikes on hand for potential customers to take home if they so desire.