HiSun Pouring Money Into Entering V-twin Motorcycle Market
HiSun might not be a name that is familiar in the motorcycle market, but buyers of ATVs and side-by-side UTVs might well know the company. It already has a 7.1 million sq ft factory making four-wheelers and a U.S. distribution subsidiary (HiSun Motors Corp., U.S.A.) at McKinney, Texas.
However, it would appear that HiSun's parent company, Chongqing Huansong Technology Industry Co, is now turning its attention to motorcycles. The parent company is the main shareholder of a new motorcycle brand - Chongqing Weiqi Technology - and developing a range of large-capacity V-twin machines. The company was established in 2020, with an opening investment of 100m yuan (around $15m) from five shareholders, led by Chongqing Huansong and its owners.
While we don't yet know what the Chongqing Weiqi's bikes will be called, the new company has applied for several trademarks, including a graphic 'X' logo and two names, 'Knight' and 'Whiskey', for upcoming models.
'filings show the former S&S owned X-Wedge 60-degree V-twin'
Designs for two bikes have been registered so far by the company, as well as the visual appearance of the S&S V-twin engine that it appears to be intending to use. The first model is a Fat Boy-style cruiser, the second a full-dress tourer along the lines of the Harley Ultra Limited. Both use the same Softail-style frame, with hidden rear suspension, and the same engine which carries the S&S logo and '121' badges, showing it to be the 121 cubic inch version of S&S's 60-degree X-Wedge design.
According to sources at S&S Cycle, the X-Wedge engine family had been removed from their lifecycle plan to open up engineering and manufacturing bandwidth for a more diverse product line, with the IP and all manufacturing equipment subsequently sold to HiSun Motors in 2020.
Although we're yet to see these bikes in the metal, the design images show machines that could easily pass for American V-twins, and with 121 cu in (nearly 2,000 cc) engines, they're promising to be the largest motorcycles yet to come from a Chinese brand.