CPG NEWS - Harley Dealers to sell Hyosung / ATK

Posted Mar 3/2010

El Capitain, March 2nd 2010 - We originally did not want to speak on this story but it seems to have gotten some legs.....Some of you might already be aware of this bit of news and a whole lot of others are going to turn to their buddies and say "Tattoo That On Your Arm".... But it is true, as far as we here at the CPG newsroom can pull together that some US Harley Dealers and potentially other world dealers will begin to offer ATK / Hyosung small displacement Motorcycles. We think this is in an attempt to bring a smaller price tag to the dealers floors in order to draw the attention of a new breed of customer, but will see. Will also see if this little project actual gets legs and start walking. You never know it could be another "Aermacchi" for good or for worse will find out. If your not fimiliar with the H-D Aermacchi story it was a set of small displacement italian built Harleys that included the 350 cc Sprint Series of street bikes that never really took off and was the beginning of some troubling times for the US bike manufacturer. They dissassembled Buell and sold off the assets and now their dealers are getting into the entry level market? I wish them good luck with this project, but I think they should stick to their H-D roots and their product niche.

Originally posted on Dealer News, Nov 13 2009 - ATK Partners With Hyosung, Plans to Enter Street Market: ATK Motorcycles has partnered with S&T Motors, the South Korean maker of Hyosung vehicles. The partnership eventually will produce a small-displacement ATK streetbike to be sold through Harley-Davidson dealers, ATK announced earlier this week at EICMA. “The goal of the partnership is to strengthen the competitive position of both companies,” an ATK news release stated. “Each company will continue to be run separately, but will work together on several specific cooperative projects involving new product development, distribution, manufacturing and purchasing.”

The press release quoted Taekwon Kim, CEO of S&T Motors, as saying, “I believe this partnership will provide substantial benefits to S&T and ATK and both companies’ dealers, employees, suppliers and shareholders for years to come. We have long admired ATK and are excited about working together to strengthen both companies. S&T can benefit from ATK’s substantial experience in the American motorcycle market and ATK’s presence inside the Harley dealer network.”

ATK CEO Frank White stated, “S&T and ATK complement each other well, and we are very excited about our new relationship. By joining forces, we believe we can strengthen our distribution network, reduce our production costs, spread development costs and substantially accelerate our entry into the streetbike business. We also look forward to sharing some of our off-road technology with S&T. The ATK and S&T management teams should work well together.

“There will be some differentiation between S&T branded products and the ATK-branded products,” White continued. “S&T will send parts from Korea, and we will integrate those with our own American and European parts. These American-Utah-assembled motorcycles will be targeted to be sold through a select group of Harley-Davidson dealers who are looking for a quality smaller-displacement motorcycle to be sold under the U.S. ATK brand name.

“The management at Harley-Davidson knows what we are doing with some of their dealers; however, they do not endorse our activities in any way,” White added.

Viewed 413 times

Comment on this article

Note: The CPG does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comments, you acknowledge that CPG has the right to reproduce, broadcast and publicize those comments or any part thereof in any manner whatsoever.