Having failed to book the then-available (and all still alive) Rolling Stones for the 100th anniversary (fans got Elton John instead!), the Motor Company has left nothing to chance by hiring Foo Fighters and Green Day to headline its 2023 Homecoming Festival at the Veterans Park, Milwaukee, in July. Harley is billing this Homecoming as a "four-day moto-culture festival, set for July 13-16 at multiple venues in the Milwaukee area, the city where it all began for the Motor Company in 1903." Six Milwaukee-area Harley-Davidson dealerships will also be hosting events and entertainment - including House of Harley-Davidson (Greenfield), Milwaukee H-D (Milwaukee), Suburban Motors (Thiensville), Uke's H-D (Kenosha), West Bend H-D (West Bend) and Wisconsin Harley-Davidson (Oconomowoc).
Tucker Powersports has announced a dealer support program which will pay the National Powersports Dealer Association (NPDA) membership fees for Tucker dealers. Tucker will pay 100% of the annual membership fee for dealers who meet a certain annual purchase level and 50% of membership fees for dealers at a reduced purchase level.
Polaris Slingshot has partnered with Roush Performance on a special edition model "designed with racetrack attitude for drivers who want to win over the streets and draw envious stares." Polaris says this is the first ever cross-branded Slingshot. Built on the Slingshot R platform, it uses the 203 hp ProStar engine.
Volcon ePowerSports has announced pre-production orders for its flagship 'Stag' all-wheel-drive fully electric UTV having eclipsed $116,000,000, with over 90% of these orders coming from its network of 151 dealers across the U.S. and its six distributors in South and Central America and the Caribbean region. The 'Stag' will be powered by General Motors' Ultium electric propulsion system technologies. Dealer deliveries are slated to begin as early as June 2023. Pre-production orders for dealers and distributors did not require any upfront payment and are non-binding. Consumer pre-production orders require a $100 reservation fee, but are also non-binding.
Ideanomics subsidiary Energica Motor Company (Bologna, Italy) achieved a 52% increase in global unit sales (revenues +67%) in 2022 vs. 2021. Future orders in 2023 for all models are up 70% vs. last year. The volume of orders for the Experia Green Tourer already equals half of all 2022 sales. Compared to last year, Energica revenue from worldwide motorcycle sales is almost up 70%.
BRP has announced construction of a new production facility in Mexico dedicated to boat manufacturing. The facility represents an expected capital investment of CAN $220m and would result in the creation of up to 1,300 jobs in addition to the 2,500 current roles in BRP's Marine Group. Production is planned to start early 2025. This new plant will optimize the company's global manufacturing footprint for the Manitou pontoons and the Alumacraft boats and will complement the Marine Group's production facilities located in Lansing, Michigan, St. Peter, Minnesota, Sturtevant, Wisconsin, Spruce Pine, North Carolina and Coomera, Queensland, Australia.
AJP Motorcycles in Portugal (founded in 1987 by former Enduro racer Antonio Pinto) has appointed Central Powersports Distribution (CPD - Watertown, SD) as its new U.S. distributor. Mark Berg said: "AJP fits our current business model quite well. We already expect our first container to arrive in April/May of 2023." CPD also distributes for other European OEM brands including Rieju and Torrot from Spain and SWM from Italy. It also sells OEM factory and replacement hard parts and brands such as FunnelWeb filters.
Partnering with Poconos Mountain H-D and Speed Kings Cycle Supply, the Lost Highway Motorcycle Show and Concert is slated for May 19-21, 2023 at the newly renovated 200+ acre Poconos Park entertainment complex in Pennsylvania. Lynyrd Skynyrd and Marshall Tucker Band headline.
In a deal finalized at the Verona based Motor Bike Expo in Italy, Custom Chrome Europe has become the exclusive distributor for Dutch made Jekill & Hyde brand EU street legal noise management exhaust systems for the Italian market. CCE sells the J&H product line in all the markets it serves in Europe and is also the exclusive distributor for dealers in Spain and Portugal.
Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek, electricmotorcycles.news, RideApart.com, Motor1.com, Cycle World, motorbikewriter.com