The Return of Britain's Triumph Motorbikes

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In meeting the challenge, Triumph is the model of the small, developed-economy manufacturer: a niche brand with a reputation for high quality engineering, drawing on a carefully managed global supply chain. "We get the best quality components for the most affordable cost, regardless of where they are in the world," Mr Mantoni says. "That is how we can be in this country and still be profitable."

The UK will always be Triumph's headquarters, he says, and all research, design and detailed engineering is done here. But engines and suspension systems come from Japan, commodity components from China, and top-quality bolts and washers from Germany.

The company also has a second factory, in Thailand, producing some components and assembling some finished bikes.

"The heart of the company is here in Britain – we have the biggest motorcycle design department outside Japan," Mr Mantoni says. "But without the factory in Asia we would not be in business today. We just would not be able to build 50,000 motorcycles and still be profitable."

Triumph has big plans, including the aggressive expansion of its model range. The biggest challenge is finding the necessary engineering skills – a familiar concern across British industry. Triumph wants to recruit up to 25 engineers in the next six months. But despite the strong aerospace and defence industries, good quality recruits are proving more and more difficult to find. "We have to interview 25 candidates for every one person we hire, and that ratio has got bigger and bigger over the last five years," Mr Mantoni says.

Just as the company looks elsewhere for the best-quality components, it may yet have to turn abroad for its designers. "The last thing we want to do is compromise, so the next step might be to go to Germany or other countries to see if they've got engineers we can hire."

Triumph may trade hard on its image of understated, unpretentious, authenticity. But its business practices are anything but traditional.

125 Years of Triumph

1885 Starts as a Coventry-based bicycle company

1902 Produces its first motorcycle

1953 Marlon Brando rides a Thunderbird 6T in The Wild One

1969 Holds 50 per cent of US market

1971 Parent group losses force sale

1977 Next parent collapses and workers' co-operative, backed with government money, becomes Triumph Motorcycles (Meriden)

1983 Triumph Motorcycles (Meriden) collapses, rights bought by entrepreneur John Bloor

1991 Reborn Triumph produces first motorbike

Provided by The Independent—from London, for Independent minds

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