American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 178 May 2014 | Page 8

Wild West offers new approach, buys Apollo
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.”
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
believe that a new approach to the
custom motorcycle build model is
what is required. By entering into
licensing agreements with the right

Jim Winn "we are starting to see
some upturn in the market"
motorcycle builders/dealers we can
develop an approach that leverages
local market expertise and provide
those businesses with access to a
build program that has greater
pedigree and design/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
Custom V-twin motorcycles that they
can build locally.
"These licensed manufacturers

would represent WWMC in every
way, including being able to provide
the VIN/MSO and share in our
N.A.D.A. listings - listings that have
continued uninterrupted since 1999.
"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
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.
Apollo will be building Bobbers
and entry level cruisers, as a rangecompletion option to Wild West's
line of " high-end choppers, 'ProStreet' style models and mid-level
cruisers.
www.wildwestmc.com

Licensing agreements will mean
that remote manufacturing site
partners will be able to
assemble their own inventory of
Wild West designs

Wild West will offer Apollo Choppers designs to round-out their range

Vectrix Electric scooters in Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing
IT LOOKS like the final chapter
in the troubled Vectrix story
may well be about to be
written, with a Chapter 7
bankruptcy filing in the United
States, an action that usually
results in the liquidation of any
remaining assets of a business.
Based at New Bedford,
Massachusetts, with an
assembly plant in Wrocław,
Poland, Vectrix ceased all US
operations as of December 31,

8

2013, although at that point it
was planned to maintain the
plant in Poland to fulfil
obligations under a joint
venture agreement with
Daimler AG's Smart division.
First introduced in 2006, the
Vectrix was a maxi-size scooter,
and was said to be the first
commercially available high
performance electric scooter.
Plagued by battery and
production issues, the company

AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - MAY 2014

first entered into a sequence of
bankruptcy actions designed to
protect it from its creditors in
2009, with its assets ultimately
being acquired by the Chinese
Gold Peak battery group at the
end of that year.
Despite several promising
advances in technology,
including their patented
Planetary Gear Drive and
energy recovery techniques,
numerous manufacturing

problems resulting in failed
batteries and non-functioning
scooters resulted in Gold Peak
deciding to cut their losses and
close down all Vectrix's US
facilities at the end of last year.

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