Birmingham, Alabama based high-performance V4 premium sport touring bike manufacturer Motus (the brainchild of Lee Conn and Brian Case) say they are looking to expand their existing network of around 25 dealers to some 100 or so by the end of next year.
Harley have scored 4th place in market share terms in Switzerland for the first four months of 2017, having sold 1,134 units there YTD. In the 2016 full year they sold 3,032 units for 3rd place in a market that was down by -3.4 percent year-on-year after having been +17.00 percent in 2015. They are currently behind Yamaha, BMW and Kawasaki, but ahead of some notable players in Swiss and wider European terms, including Honda, Triumph, KTM, Ducati and Suzuki.
Hot Leathers has moved manufacturing of its “U.S.A. Made” high-end apparel collection in-house at its Manchester, Connecticut headquarters. Andy George, Executive Vice President for brand owner Good Sports Inc., is quoted as saying that the company will now start to grow its distributor and retailer footprint and introduce a new riding accessories collection later this year.
The 2017 AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be Friday, Sept. 22, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio, concurrent with the 5th annual AIMExpo as it makes its Columbus debut – the Hall of Fame is based at the nearby Pickerington, Ohio AMA headquarters.
A question mark has been thrown over the long-term viability of the versatile Greaves four-stroke single-cylinder BS III Diesel engine powered ‘Multix’ multi-purpose personal unitality produced by Polaris and its 50/50 Indian joint venture partner Eicher Motors (owner of Royal Enfield). The vehicle may be about to fall foul of India’s accelerated program of emissions regulation updates as the country grapples with some of the worst urban air pollution in the world.
U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta visited BMW’s Munich, Germany headquarters and manufacturing plant in mid-May. The visit included an extensive tour through the production and technical apprenticeship training facility. BMW directly employs some 9,000 workers at its Spartanburg, Sc. plant - its largest production facility in the world - supporting 70,000 direct and indirect jobs in the United States. Seventy per cent of the plant’s production is exported, making BMW the largest exporter by value of any car manufacturer in the USA. Over the last ten years, BMW has invested more than $220m on training workers in Spartanburg and forecasts a further $200m Spartanburg workforce training investment in the coming years – given BMW’s stated domestic U.S. ambitions, especially with its R nineT models, it makes one wonder how much of that may now be focussed on motorcycle manufacturing training!
Harley and leading motorcycle rentals company EagleRider have entered an exclusive partnership that will allow travelers to now be able to rent and tour on the most current Harley-Davidson Touring and Cruiser motorcycles at EagleRider locations around the United States. Customers will also benefit from an expanded network of EagleRider pick-up and drop-off points, with many of them now located in Harley-Davidson dealerships.
