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cov.er.sto.ry EcoCruise Choose your Adventure Ecocruise was born, there was Kasea Motorsports. Steve Leighty founded Kasea Motor- sports back in 1989. Steve had an idea of importing affordable, quality built, and street legal scooters from China into the US enabling enthusiasts to enjoy, own and ride them at a lower cost. President, Steve Leighty has over 25 years in designing and producing motor vehicles in China, Korea, Taiwan and distributing them worldwide. He was the first to design and import motorcycles, dirt bikes, ATVs, dune bug- gies and scooters from China into the US. After two years of exten- sive business planning and development, Steve imported their first container load of DOT certified scooters into the US. With production cost being low in Asia, Kasea was able to invest in premium Suzuki-designed motors and other premium Japanese parts for their scooters. When Kasea scooters were introduced to the US market, every rider took notice. Kasea became one of the most sought after lines throughout the US. Kasea was able to achieve their sales budgets and goals within the first year. With such tremendous success, Kasea reinvested their profit gains and diversified into other motor vehicle trends such as ATVs for both kids and adults. Locally designed and engineered samples of ATVs were shipped off to China for production. It was not long until Kasea started adding motorcycles, dirt bikes, and buggies to their product line. As the business continued to grow, Steve began to set up distri- bution through motorcycle dealers throughout the US with his field and in-house sales team. By 1995, Kasea had annual revenues of over $25M. In 1998, Steve began exhibiting his products in Motorsport Shows in Italy, Germany, England, Sweden, France, Canada, Taiwan, and Chi- na. Experienced Sales Managers for each foreign region were added to the sales team and dis- tribution channels worldwide were set up. Within a few years, Kasea was selling over 30,000 vehicles each year. After enjoying over 15 years of phenomenal success, business began to slow down after the tragic 9/11 attack. Consumers became weary of the future and fewer people were spending AUGUST 2018 5