AUSTRALIA’S biggest motorcycle business has outlined a new strategy, pointing to a more efficient business plan based around product and a greater use of data to lead the company through to the 2030s.

In a Morgans Business Breakfast presentation last week, Motorcycle Holdings Ltd CEO Matthew Wiesner said the strategy is a progression from a pivotal point in 2025 when the company jumped from a major business into the big league via the purchase of a major part of the business of its main competitor, Peter Stevens Harley Heaven.

“The purchase, on the back of Peter Stevens’ voluntary administration, started happening in May 2025 and it was all over and done by July 2025,” Mr Wiesner told the breakfast gathering.

“We didn’t take all of the businesses because there were some parts we didn’t need.

“The purchase gave us a circa $120m to $130m revenue business for which we paid about $10 million worth in assets and inventory.

Motorcycle Holdings CEO Matthew Wiesner

“So it was a wonderful opportunity, a wonderful acquisition that certainly strengthened our retail business moving forward.”

The purchase of Peter Stevens – then the second biggest motorcycle retailer in Australia – cemented Motorcycle Holdings (MTO) as the biggest, taking the company’s evolution from a single Yamaha dealership to a leading motorcycle retail and distribution group.

Mr Wiesner said that MTO started in 1989 when David Ahmet founded the company from a Yamaha business in Brisbane.

Mr Ahmet and his partners then started acquiring retail sites or retail businesses across southeast Queensland, and then in 2011, equity company Archer Capital became involved and worked to a public listing in 2016.

“So, which was primarily at that time a retail business – actually 100 per cent a retail business – before around 2017 it moved to buy the first of the distribution businesses, Cassons, which is a parts and accessories business,” he added.  “Within that business we have numerous brands that we both distribute to the broader industry, and we also retail through the rooftops that we have in our dealerships, as well as a brand called MCAS.

“It was a circa $200m to $300m revenue business back 2017, and then grew through further acquisitions.

“In 2021, MTO bought a small distribution business in New Zealand – Forbes and Davies – which is a combination of the parts and accessories distribution business as well as a vehicle distribution business. That’s coming along quite well.

“In the context of what we are today, I’d say that in 2022 we made one of our best decisions which was buying the Melbourne-based vehicle distribution business, Mojo.

“Mojo’s business included a Chinese brand called CF Moto, which Mojo had been with for about 20 years. It had been quietly gathering momentum, gathering pace, and developing over that period of time. 

“It is very much like the BYD story in the car business. It is quite similar, and not that it’s focused on electrification, but that it has similar global growth.

“CF Moto is now our core brand and is number three in the Australian market with Honda and Yamaha sitting in front of it.

“MTO is now the fifth largest distributor globally for CF Moto, so the factory loves us.”Mr Wiesner said that the journey of MTO, from its inception to when Mr Ahmet retired from the business in 2024, shows it evolved from a pure retailer to a very diverse business model.

It now has about 20 per cent of the national motorcycle retail business.

“We have a national footprint with about 50 rooftops. We retail more than 19,000 new vehicles – some don’t have wheels (marine products) and others have two or four wheels – and more than  12,000 used vehicles,” he continued. 

“We distributed over 20,000 vehicles in Australia and New Zealand. We sell nearly $150 million worth of parts in retail and wholesale, and more than $100m worth of finance, and $80m worth of labour, and a quarter of a million labor hours that we sold through the year.

“So there’s a lot going on. We have nearly 1100 people in the business, of which about 800 of that are in retail. So when you look at say some of the key numbers, we’re building well. 

“We are the largest ATV four-wheel vehicle distributor and retailer in the country.

“With CF Moto, we have about 45 per cent of the market, and now with brands like Seadoo, we have a significant marine power sport business, especially in the southern states which we picked up through the Peter Stevens business. 

“Our Harley-Davidson sales are almost half of all those sold in Australia. 

Motorcycle Holdings CEO Matthew Wiesner

“Motorcycles remain a very important part of what we do, but now we really start to broaden that base and into things without wheels, into things with four wheels but at the same time what this also gives us especially on the four wheeled side is it’s not just about discretionary retail.

“Our mix of business is quite different and is continuing to evolve. That is a strength and that is the benefit of the diversity that we have in this business.

“We have a lot more exposure to agriculture, fleet, and other things including government, because of the ATV side of our business.

“For us, that’s fantastic because you know 10 years ago we were very much retail, retail, retail. Today we’re really starting to see that diversity and that blend of business that gives us, I guess, a bit more balance as things get a sometimes a bit tighter in retail.”

He said that today, MTO “is quite different to say the other listed automotive businesses in Eager’s, the Paul Peter Warren Group, and Autosport”.

Internally, MTO has made changes to its Motorcycle Accessories Supermarket (MCAS) business unit.

Mr Wiesner referred to it as a “brand that kind of got a bit lost in our world”.

“It was rolled into the motorcycle business, and we’ve now separated it back out to where it should be because it is effectively our parts and accessories retail brand, both online and in store,” he said.

“We’ve now started a relaunch of MCAS and an expansion of it. We lost a lot of market share by not probably treating this brand the way it should have been a half a dozen years or so ago.

“We’ve allowed others to come into the market. Now we need to get that market share back. 

“We’re not rushing. We’re doing quite strategically, but that process has begun. 

“And then, I guess, as we move forward from here, we presented a strategic direction to the board last month about where we see this business, this group, this industry, going. We have also outlined some peripheral opportunities that may be out there as well. 

“We’ve dubbed it ‘Ride On’. It’s a direction that we’re working on that will take us into the next decade.”

In outlining its future, Mr Wiesner said that MTO operates “very much” on an 80:20 rule.

“Probably 20 per cent of our parts and accessories brands deliver probably 70 to 80 per cent of our gross profit,” he noted.

“Previously it was to try and get every brand you can, and those that collect the most brands win.

“Moving forward, it’s going to be what is the most efficient way to drive this business that gives us the best return on effort.” 

He also said that MTO was becoming more a power sport or a power sports business, moving away from the business strictly built on the back of motorcycles and motorcycle retail. 

“Today, we are very much a distribution and retail business,” he said.

“From a revenue point of view, we’re probably about two-thirds retail and one-third distribution and wholesale. 

“But there’s a lot of cost in the retail business. You’ve got a lot of people. You’ve got a lot of property. Also in retail, there are a lot of challenges. 

“On the distribution wholesale side, you’ve got a lot less people, a lot less property, a lot more efficiency, and a lot higher margins. 

“So the way we are evolving will be very much looking at the profit and gross contribution. Our distribution business will continue to evolve at a hell of a rate, and I don’t see that at all changing. 

“But retail remains a very important part of the business and will remain so for a very long time. 

“What distribution can’t give you are customers. All right, they can give us dealers. They can give us, you know, resellers. But what it doesn’t give you are retail customers.

“From retail customers, you get data, you get information, and from that information, we can then obviously work on how and what we need to do to build this better, this business better and a bit smarter.

“Fundamentally, the business is not just about selling bikes and parts and accessories. It’s also about building and developing data capability that will help us take this business to another level.”