About European Motorcycles of Western Oregon
The abbreviated history...
Madelyn and Scott grew up in the Midwest. During college at DePauw University, they met in Honduras on a mission trip in 1992. They came to the Pacific Northwest where Scott attended graduate school. In 1994, they returned to the Midwest as jobs were practically non-existent in Oregon. And after nearly a decade of working in their respective disciplines (Madelyn in nursing, Scott in geospatial services), they left their careers to open a BMW motorcycle dealership in Eugene.
In 2004, starting from scratch and with the determination to provide motorcyclists with a more customer service oriented environment, Madelyn and Scott opened BMW Motorcycles of Western Oregon in Eugene.
The motorcycle community responded in fantastic fashion with over 400 attending the grand opening celebration in over 100 degree heat. From that day forward, the whirlwind of business and success seen in the Eugene store put into motion BMW's review of dealerships in Oregon.
Shortly thereafter, BMW announced that they wanted to put another motorcycle dealership on the westside of the Portland metro area. Knowing that a good portion of their business was traveling over a hundred miles to visit the Eugene store, Madelyn and Scott considered the notion of a second location.
Through encouragement from many BMW customers in the Portland area, the Russells put in a proposal to BMW for a westside location in the fall of 2006. As with Eugene, BMW approved their proposal in short order and by April of 2007, BMW Motorcycles of Western Oregon, Tigard opened its doors.
The Tigard location was equally well received and instantly provide the Portland area with another BMW resource, although 100 miles closer to home. This success proved to be a double edged sword - beneficial through redistribution of service workload and also a detrminent as 30% of the Eugene customer base disappeared virtually overnight.
With historically high market penetration and a 30% reduction in their customer base, the Russells sought a way to grow its Eugene business and the most logical approach was through the addition of another brand.
Since late 2004, BMW had been telling its smaller dealers that diversification through a multi-line representation would be necessary for financial survival. With this in mind, Madelyn and Scott made the decision that the addition of the Ducati brand would add diversification in such a way that wouldn't necessary result in cannibalization of the BMW brand.
June of 2010 saw the evolution of BMW Motorcycles of Western Oregon to European Motorcycles of Western Oregon with the addition of the Ducati line-up.
European Motorcycles of Western Oregon is conveniently located near the areas of Salem, Portland, Beaverton, Lake Oswego, Corvallis, and Bend.
