Buckner, Kentucky based Wild West Motor Company (WWMC) is starting the process of licensing several established shops in the US and Canada to have the ability to manufacture their line of motorcycles as “Licensed Manufacturing Sites.”
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| Wild West will offer Apollo Choppers designs to round-out their range |
WWMC has been around for many years and have "thousands of their motorcycles on the roads worldwide." The company was moved to Kentucky in 2008 and downsized in order to survive the downturn in the Custom motorcycle market.
Jim Winn, the present Senior Partner and CEO, says: "WWMC came very close to ending up like many other Custom manufactures, such as American Iron Horse, Titan, Big Dog, and many others - closed!"
"However, we are starting to see some upturn in the market, and to meet this, and what we hope will be an opportunity for future growth, we are in the planning stages of how to meet the market needs. We believe that a new approach to the custom motorcycle build model is what is required, and by entering into licensing agreements with the right motorcycle builders/dealers we can develop an approach that leverages local market expertise and established reputations and customer habits, and provide those businesses with access to a build program plant/factory that has greater pedigree and design and engineering foundations than any single custom shop or builder could create.
"This model means builders/dealers in different regions of this and other countries can provide their consumers with a line of established highbred Custom V-twin motorcycles that they can build locally for their customers.
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| "we are starting to see some upturn in the market" |
"That is a huge benefit - it means our bikes, the bikes that they can build locally, will be fully financeable and insurable with an established residual and used value track record in a way that one-off individually specified and built customs generally aren't."
In additional news WWMC has announced the acquisition of APOLLO CHOPPERS located at Eminence, Kentucky. Founded in 2002, the Apollo Choppers line of motorcycles will also be offered for assembly to Wild West “Licensed Manufacturers” for sale to their customers and to other dealers.
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| Licensing agreements will mean that remote manufacturing site partners will be able to assemble their own inventory of Wild West designs |
Apollo will be building Bobbers and entry level cruisers, as a range-completion option to Wild West's line of " high-end choppers, 'Pro-Street' style models and mid-level cruisers.
Winn also told AMD Magazine that Wild West is planning a new Bagger and a Trike. "They are still at the design stages at this time, but they are an example of the kind of critical-mass that we can bring to market response that is beyond the resources of individual local outlets. Custom bike shops can build great bikes, so why reinvent that wheel; instead we give them access to the thing that is more difficult for individual small custom businesses, an established and reputable brand with designs that are pre-proven in engineering and demand terms.
"There's no way that an individual shop could capitalize the kind of investment needed to respond to such market opportunities on their own, but we can. In partnership with their own existing skills and customer base we believe we can revolutionize how a manufacturer reaches local customers through a new approach to the classic dealer network, and in so doing revolutionize the kind of options that a local business can offer to the riders in its area."
www.wildwestmc.com
