Ruf USA kaput?

[Tt surgeon]

Is ruf USA in Michigan no more?

[speednme1]

Originally Posted by Tt surgeon

Is ruf USA in Michigan no more?

Yes as of the moment....I posted this up on Rennlist:

It's sad because the guys in Michigan were very responsive and courteous. In all the years they(Ruf in Germany) have been around, they should have at least one distrubutor on each side of the coast with at least no less than three auto dealers selling their cars.

Parts were a huge part of their business, today not so much(for the new cars). It's funny how many Porsche enthusiasts have never heard of Ruf. By now 90% of enthusiast(young or old) should know Who or what a Ruf is.

I love the brand but they need to decide what they want their company's future to be. A small shop/dealer/retailer in Germany or a worldwide competitor of niche vehicles and parts. If they choose the latter..they are going to need a strategy to remain around for a long time...which will include recognizing their dealers as partners and not employees

[911nut]

They were in Michigan? I had no idea that they had a partner in my backyard.
To your point, Ray, they should have been doing more advertising in on this bb, for example.

[onboost]

Originally Posted by speednme1

Yes as of the moment....I posted this up on Rennlist:

It's sad because the guys in Michigan were very responsive and courteous. In all the years they(Ruf in Germany) have been around, they should have at least one distrubutor on each side of the coast with at least no less than three auto dealers selling their cars.

Parts were a huge part of their business, today not so much(for the new cars). It's funny how many Porsche enthusiasts have never heard of Ruf. By now 90% of enthusiast(young or old) should know Who or what a Ruf is.

I love the brand but they need to decide what they want their company's future to be. A small shop/dealer/retailer in Germany or a worldwide competitor of niche vehicles and parts. If they choose the latter..they are going to need a strategy to remain around for a long time...which will include recognizing their dealers as partners and not employees

Man you are so right, I love the brand too..

I have no knowledge into the make-up of the Ruf distributorship agreements but one would have to consider that both the cars and parts serve a unique market and one would have to consider the viability of distributorship in this country.

In the old days, "Exclusive" Motorcars in NJ held it down for a number of years and I believe there was another company (can't think of the name right now) in Illinois that was the distributor for everything west of the Mississippi.

The mainline during that time was the parts.. and I think for the US, has always been the parts followed by the conversions as opposed to complete cars. When you get into the DOT & EPA requirements around the cars, it becomes not so attractive for a small manufacturer like Ruf to sell cars here.
Importing cars for individuals and importing cars for sale as a manufacturer fall under a number of different governmental rules. This is why I think Ruf has continued to operate in the manner of just using distributors.

I do agree with you on their current dilemma, it should be interesting to see what direction they chose and how it plays out. I too am sorry to see the Michigan group move on.

P-

[rs200evo]

Too bad, Ruf needs to maintain a presence in the U S. Maybe should have stayed in Dallas.

[speednme1]

Originally Posted by rs200evo

Too bad, Ruf needs to maintain a presence in the U S. Maybe should have stayed in Dallas.

Dallas,New Jersey or any other state distributor wouldn't make a difference if their(Ruf's) tactics are all the same.

[TT Gasman]

The Ruf business model does not lend itself to successful franchises, in Dallas it became an impossible situation. I wish Ruf had supported the guys in Dallas more, that was a first class operation.

[onboost]

Originally Posted by speednme1

Dallas,New Jersey or any other state distributor wouldn't make a difference if their(Ruf's) tactics are all the same.

Originally Posted by TT Gasman

The Ruf business model does not lend itself to successful franchises, in Dallas it became an impossible situation. I wish Ruf had supported the guys in Dallas more, that was a first class operation.

Sounds like an interesting back-story guys?

[16Volt]

Man, that stinks. So now you need to call Germany to order Ruf parts?

[SAY - 642]

I sure hope RUF Germany and Michigan iron it out. Dealing with RUF Michigan was such a pleasure.

[speednme1]

Originally Posted by 16Volt

Man, that stinks. So now you need to call Germany to order Ruf parts?

Yes

[rs200evo]

Any updates on Ruf out of u s

[Matt Monson]

I don't know much a out Ruf's internal politics but it is my understanding that Alois is no longer at the helm directing day to day operations. I believe this has been the case for a couple years.

Oftentimes in a company like this, when the principal namesake retires they take a big chunk of equity with them as retirement. The company could be cash poor, without new investment capital, causing them to refocus on their core business of building bespoke automobiles and not holding large inventories of manufactured components for sale.

Pure speculation on my part, but it is one potential explanation.

[16Volt]

I know the Ruf US website is indeed kaput.

[SAY - 642]

Originally Posted by Matt Monson

I don't know much a out Ruf's internal politics but it is my understanding that Alois is no longer at the helm directing day to day operations. I believe this has been the case for a couple years.

Oftentimes in a company like this, when the principal namesake retires they take a big chunk of equity with them as retirement. The company could be cash poor, without new investment capital, causing them to refocus on their core business of building bespoke automobiles and not holding large inventories of manufactured components for sale.

Pure speculation on my part, but it is one potential explanation.

I don't think money is the issue. See this link from February 14, 2013

"Earlier today we learned that Porsche Motorsports North America purchased the historic ANDIAL name/brand for future use. At nearly the same time we heard that RUF, perhaps the most well know Porsche builder in the world, has sold a stake of their business to the investment firm that owns the Lotus F1 team.


All the main principals are still in place.
Alois Ruf & H.-P. Lieb the main man who signs all the RUF Certificates of Authenticity.

It had to be some falling out between Michigan and Germany ...I can only speculate.
Maybe somebody can shed some light on what happened.

[Tt surgeon]

I think it's just a money issue btwn ruf and the outlets.

[turbo935]

The dealer in Upper Montclair New Jersey, was Exclusive Motorcars not Ultimate. The owner was Gary Borman, who at the time had a close relationship with Lois Ruf, having met Lois at Gary's house I know first hand. Both at the time reminded me more of engineers not mechanics, Gary at the time, used to take car of the Kremer K3 that won the 1980 IMSA championship, that a NNJR owner from Ridgewood New Jersey used in NNJR PCA and private track events.

[Niche]

Sorry to hear this. ..

[onboost]

Originally Posted by turbo935

The dealer in Upper Montclair New Jersey, was Exclusive Motorcars not Ultimate.

Yes! Thank you for that correction.. I knew Ultimate just didn't sound right but my marbles were jumbled and I just couldn't think of Exclusive!

Funny too, yesterday I had to move some stuff around in the loft in the garage and staring at me was my spare Ruf valance and grill, still in the box with the Exclusive Motorcars label on it!

Gotta love this forum!

[speednme1]

Originally Posted by Tt surgeon

I think it's just a money issue btwn ruf and the outlets.

It's more than just money. Support from your partners go a long way. Let's put it this way, if Ruf sets up shop in the US with their own money(ground up) then anyone who works in the store is a Ruf employee and Ruf can manage the store/shop anyway they see fit. Now if Ruf has someone who is willing to distribute their items and sell their cars out of a brick and mortar they(the distributor) pay for, then Ruf in my eyes should consider them a partner of some sort and treat them accordingly. Could be a cultural difference as to the handling of certain issues but when in Rome you do like the Romans.