MIC : Moderated by MIC President and CEO Erik Pritchard , the MIC Board of Directors got proceedings underway on the first morning with a panel discussion - the first in a sequence of MIC symposium sessions billed by AIMExpo as " Disruptive Thinking ". The topics under discussion were as wide ranging as the opinions - though the consensus formed round the importance of the industry coming together , asking the tough questions about where we go from here , and where the next generation of door-swingers are going to come from , and what are they going to want to see in their local powersports store . From left to right - Marc McAllister , CEO Tucker Powersports ; Tim Calhoun , Tim Calhoun Powersports ; Shawn McLean , BMW ; Rod Lopusnak , Triumph ; John Hinz , KTM ; Derek Brooks , Yamaha ; Bill Savino , Honda and Jim Woodruff , NPA .
Marc McAllister : Much of the credit for seeing AIMExpo starting to regain its status has to go to Tucker Powersports . After the ' jury was out ' following last year ' s show , his decision to double-down and invest even more heavily in centering Tucker ' s dealer appreciation investment on attracting them to AIMExpo has been one of , if not the primary catalyst in seeing the relevance of the show start to recover ground .
Connect . Engage . Unite : Or was it going to be L the much-anticipated industry distributor Q & A b LeMans Group ( the privately held owner of Parts McAllister , CEO and President of ( Monomoy Capi encounter , Chera Gibb , Snr VP Marketing and Com is the owner of WPS / HardDrive in the United Stat mega $ 33bn private equity investor Genstar Cap was " dishing it out ". In what was a good-nature insightful and interesting debate . One that share like from the distributor perspective - not least h picture you are looking at the collective distribut of some 20 warehouses and $ 2bn in powersports industry sales .
Central Powersports Distribution : CPD of Watertown , South Dakota , is a wellknown European motorcycle distributor who handles U . S . sales for the likes of Rieju and Torrot in Spain , SWM in Italy and Portuguese manufacturer AJP ; www . rieju-usa . com
SBS Friction : Christel Munk Pederson is leading the Danish manufacturer into a " green and pleasant land " as the first manufacturer to have embraced the ' Better Brakes ' regulatory programme with transition into manufacturing brake pads with 0 % copper , nickel and antimony in a new range of ceramic and sintered brake pad formulations . The results have been spectacular , proving that green manufacturing does not need to compromise performance . This new generation of SBS pads has a similar wear profile to its previous pads , but with an improved sense of grip and performance stability , with improved fade performance and coefficient of friction ; www . sbs . dk
Heidenau Tires : Distributed in USA by Moto Amore Llc , Heidenau was founded in 1946 and still makes its tyres in Germany . When it started handcrafting its tyres 77 years ago , Heidenau employed a dozen people and produced 35 tyre designs . These days the company employs more than 200 people at its global headquarters just outside Dresden and produces 550 unique tyre designs and distributes them to 45 countries around the world ; www . heidenautires . com
32 INTERNATIONAL DEALER NEWS - APRIL / MAY 2023 www . idnmag . com