American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 231 October 2018 | Page 6

NEWS
BRIEFS
St. Paul and Wild Prairie H-D (Eden
Prairie) in Minnesota have been sold
by Tom and Melanie Giannetti. St.
Paul Harley was founded in 1945 by
Howard Belmont, a local motorcycle
enthusiast, with the Giannettis
acquiring it in 1999. Wild Prairie was
established in 2008 in Eden Prairie
and boasts a 33,000 square foot
facility. The buyer is Dale Rhoads, an
experienced Harley dealer owning
and operating numerous dealerships
throughout Minnesota, Oklahoma
and Kansas.
The iconic Vespa brand name is
to finally appear on an electric
scooter. Owner Piaggio finally
confirmed that the much hyped
proto-designs seen at EICMA
last year finally entered
production in September 2018.
Piaggio says that ‘Vespa
Elettrica’ will be the group’s
first product to adopt
“innovative machine-man
interconnectivity solutions” -
available online to begin with
only from the start of October.
Production will be at the
historic Pontedera plant near
Pisa in Italy, where the first
Vespa rolled off the line in the
spring of 1946.
Combined registrations of electric
mopeds, motorcycles and
quadricycles in Europe (EU countries)
reached 21,100 units during the first
six months of 2018 - an increase of
+49% compared to the first half of
2017 (14,160 units). Most of the
electric L-category vehicles registered
in 2018 are mopeds (14,150 units),
followed by motorcycles (5,370 units)
and a much smaller number of
quadricycles (about 1,580 units).
The largest European markets in
terms of electric units were
France, where combined
registrations of mopeds,
motorcycles and quadricycles
totalled 5,430 units (+24.8% on
a year-on-year basis), followed
by Netherlands (3,890 vehicles,
+48.6%), Belgium (3,830
vehicles, +62%), Spain (2,930
vehicles, +125.5%) and Italy
(1,280 vehicles, +20.9%).
An estimated 100 million electric
two-wheelers, including scooters and
‘PedElecs’, are in use on the roads in
China, and recent reforms in the
Chinese EV industry are leading to an
upsurge in domestic Chinese demand
for European and American made
brands – at least they were until the
uncertainty triggered by the tariff
war.
6
The End of the Dream?
Founders Lee Conn and Brian Case
have announced that Motus, their
Birmingham, Alabama based V4
sportsbike manufacturing operation
has had to close down.
Only as recently as in July the company
was announcing the latest additions to
its growing domestic U.S. dealer
network.
In a statement posted to their
Facebook page the owners said that
“after an amazing ten-year ride,
Motus is forced to shut down
operations, effective immediately.
“Motus' financial backers
unexpectedly informed management
that they will not provide sufficient
capital to maintain operations and
grow the business. We were surprised
and disappointed, especially because
we have been working so hard
preparing an October 2018 product
launch into a new and exciting
segment, as well as new features on
the MST series.
“This is very unfortunate timing and
we will work to quickly find a new path
forward for Motus Motorcycles and
our American V4 powertrain division.”
In recognizing the contribution that
their employees and dealers have
made to the project to date, they went
on to say “we are very grateful to Team
Motus, truly the finest group of
professionals and people, who have
each dedicated so much of their hearts
and soul to Motus. We are also
thankful to our dealers and the many
customers and supporters who have
cheered us on and put gas in our tanks
along the way.”
In closing they said “for Motus owners,
hang on to those motorcycles. As you
already know, they are heirlooms,
unlike any other motorcycles ever
built.”
Founded by company President Lee
Conn and business partner and
designer Brian Case in 2008, Motus
manufactured “sportsbikes with
accommodations for touring that are
Founded in 2008, Motus had been
continuing to add to its domestic
U.S dealer network as recently as
July this year and had a new
segment launch announcement
planned for October
The MST and MSTR were based on
proven, low maintenance 1650 cc
(100ci), liquid-cooled, all aluminum
90° liquid and oil cooled V4 small-
block architecture. Producing a
claimed 180 hp and 126 ft-lb of
torque, the self-adjusting valvetrain,
ride-by-wire, cam-in-the-block, 2
OHV 3.465 in. bore by 2.669 in.
stroke engine is regarded as a
highly accomplished powerplant for
a sports