Ducati Omaha and Ducati Indianapolis prove that it is possible for a single line Ducati dealer to succeed in the Midwest. Unfortunately, built on the back of one of the best independent Ducati service and tuning shops in the Midwest, Silverback Performance, the money backers who had never worked in the motorcycle industry before got control over the dealership and screwed it up.
For example, they fired or drove out everyone who was associated with Silverback after about a year in business and then raised their service rates by 25% even though they didn't even have a level 2 certified tech at the time. Silverback's faithful customers, a who's who of Twin Cities Ducati owners steered clear and advised others to do the same.
They hired an ex-Ferracci manager and failed to listen to him. They got rid of him after about a year replacing him with an amateur road racer they sponsored who had absolutely no industry background (he ran a small general contractor business before being hired).
In short, the guys with no industry background ended up running the dealership and didn't have a clue how to do it well enough to be profitable.
