Erik Buell Racing resumed production today, with the first motorcycles from the East Troy, Wisconsin factory set to roll off the assembly line on March 17th.
Owner Liquid Asset Partners is touting that the new company – EBR Motorcycles, LLC – has a new multi-year plan, as well as financial stability, and it will begin courting dealerships to carry its line of American sport bikes.
For now though, production in East Troy is limited to the EBR 1190RX and EBR 1190SX models, picking up where Erik Buell Racing left off in the receivership process, presumably finishing the models that were left in mid-production when EBR closed its doors.
The announcement seems more symbolic than anything, as it is not clear where these newly produced EBR motorcycles will actually be going once they roll-off the assembly line. This is because EBR’s dealership network is virtually non-existent at this point in time and past EBR dealers are still trying to clear motorcycles from their showroom floors.
“This would not be possible without the EBR team. All the credit goes to them for waiting out the storms during the last year,” said Bill Melvin Jr, CEO of Liquid Asset Partners and CFO of EBR.
“Now the clouds have cleared; EBR is able to shift into gear knowing that it has financial stability, a profitable multi-year plan, and a 5-10 year vision. We feel there is still room for new partnerships or investment, but it is not critical. EBR is on solid ground and moving forward. We are turning the key and twisting the throttle!”
“I am really looking forward to the launch and the press day,” added Erik Buell. “I have dedicated my life to this and want to get the word out on how great our motorcycles are.” Buell will serve as the EBR’s Chief Technical Officer (CTO) going forward in the new venture.
EBR says that more news will be coming forth about the company’s plans for pricing, warranties, and racing. Hopefully the new team will learn from the past mistakes of the Erik Buell Racing.
Smart money would see EBR cutting the MSRP on the RX and SX models – moving EBR’s product line away from the realm of European prices, and closer to those found with the Japanese manufacturers.
It will be interesting to see how EBR handles the warranty claims of current EBR owners, and how the company plans to go racing in 2016/2017.
What we do know is that Liquid Asset Partners continues to look for parties interested in investing in EBR Motorcycles, and that the company plans to sell excess factory assets in an auction scheduled for March 18th.
Source: Liquid Asset Partners
Comments