Erik Buell Racing (EBR) has started making bikes again at its East Troy, Wisconsin, US factory. The company along with its Liquid Asset Partners announced that the first 1190RX and 1190SX motorcycle will roll out from the assembly line by 17th March 2016.
Bill Melvin Jr, head of EBR’s owner Liquid Asset Partners (LAP) and Chief Financial Officer of EBR, said:
“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.”
In April last year, the struggling firm, EBR got into financial problems and was forced to close production. The Liquid Asset Partners bought EBR at an auction in January this year and announced in February that they will bring the EBR back in two-wheeler market and start the motorcycle production very soon.
This is of course, good for EBR as a brand, Buell fans and existing owners. But just putting together the parts and preparing them for sale won’t work. As per a reliable news source, the company is yet to secure distribution and dealership for the bikes.
We are expecting that the brand will answer all such questions, pricing of new bikes and warranty information during the press day for journalists.
Last year Hero Motocorp acquired certain assets of Erik Buell Racing for $2.8 million as a part of settlement agreement in the bankruptcy matter of US based firm. According to the agreement EBR was supposed to help Hero MotoCorp’s in-house research and development teams to accelerate development of certain consulting projects, including the projects EBR was executing for them. But after two months in September 2015, Hero announced that they are bringing product development back to India for the models it was doing with Erik Buell Racing, one such product was the Hero’s HX250 which was shown at the 2014 Auto Expo and 2016 as well. Though the company has not revealed any updates on the launch of its HX250R so far.
