Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

H arley And Zongshen Harley-Davidson has announced the signing of a me mo of unde rstanding with the Zo ngshen Motorcycle Gro up which could facilitate Har ley-Davidson's entry into the Ch inese motorcycle marke t and enhance Zongshen's capa bilities in its home market, according to a release issued by Harley. The announcement came during a visit by H arleyDavidson chairman and chief executive offi ce r jeffrey Ble ustein and oth er company officials to Zongshe n's headquarters in C hongqing, China. Both companies em phasized that the memo of understanding provides a frame work for a potenti al relationship but t hat many details are yet to be discussed before th e two co mp anies comm it to a form al agreement, the release states. "Harley-Davidso n's primary objective is to ex port our American -made motorcycles to China and to deve lop political and motorcycle industry alliances in anticipation of the ma rket be coming more accessible, " said Bleu ste in. "We do not believe it will be necessary for Harley-Davidson to manufacture its mo torcycles in China in or der to be able to sell them ther e ," he said. Unde r the con template d relation ship, Harley-Davidson would work with Zongshen to gain a bett er understan ding of the business pract ices, markets and distribut ion channels it will encoun ter in China . Zongshen is a recog- 2005 Kawasaki KX 125 Her e are photos of the 2005 Kawasaki KX125 (above) and KX85 (be low) mo tocrossers . Unfortunately , Kawasaki has not released any tech nical information about eit her bike. Smets Recovering Team Suzuki motocrosser joel 5mets is on the road to recovery from a serious bacterial infection, according to his team. The 35-yea r-old felt discom fort in his pelvic region after the British Grand Prix and was admitted to hosp ital. It was there that doctors determined that the infect ion had spread to his blood strea m. The cause of the condition is unknown , but it res ulted in high fever and pain, according to the team . Due to the risk of organ damage, 5mets was transfer red from the hospital of He rentals to the University Hospita l in nize d leader in the Chinese mot orcycle industry. "We be lieve the re is a lot we can learn from working wit h a company that has intimate market and industry know ledge in China," said Ble ustein. Harley-Davidso n wou ld share certain technology of a noncompeting nature as we ll as marketing philosophies and practices with Zongs hen, under the contemplated agree ment. prospects are positive, the release said. Smets' planned "In China, there are hundreds of motorcycle compan ies. However, Harley-Davidson is known arou nd the wo rld and throughout C hina for its outstanding reputation," said Zongshen Motorcycle Group chairman Zuo Zongsh en . "Harley-Davidsons status as an American-made moto rcycle has a strong knee surgery has been postponed. appeal here, and we believe an association Leuven, whe re he was placed in intensive care . The situation is stable and unde r control, the team says, and Smets has already been able to get out of bed. The infection will require a long recovery, but the A Viper IPO The Viper Motorcycle Com pany announced on june 14 that on june 10 it filed a registration statement with the Securitiesand Exchange Commission for a proposed initial with Harley-Davidson holds solid value for us in China," he said. While in Ch ina, Bleustein is also press ing Harley-Davidson's case for market entry with government officials. The day before his visit to Zon gshen , Bleustein met in Beijing with public offer ing by the company of 1,400,000 shares of its China's vice mini ster of com merce, Wei comm on stock and three-year redeemable warrants to jianguo, to urge the easing of official and unofficial trade barriers that limit Harley Davidson's ability to sell its premium American-made motorcycles in China. Those ba rriers include a 50 percent import duty on mo tor cycles. The duty is scheduled to drop to 30 percent by january, 2005, a level which is still onerous, according to Harley-Davidson . In addition, local govern ments in Ch ina often limit the number of mo torcycle licenses they will grant, and motorcycles are singled out for outrig ht bans from operating in many of China's largest cities, according to Harley. purchase 1,400,000 sha res of the company 's common stoc k. The company's registration statement also relates to 133,334 shares to be offered and sold by certain stockholders of the company. Lane Cap ital Markets LLC will serve as the managing underwrite r of the company's initial public offering. Viper Motorcycle Company is engaged in designing, deve loping, producing and commercializing the Viper Diablo and other custom V-twin heavyweight motorcycles. A registrati on statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Sec urities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective, accor ding to a release from the company. 4 JUNE 23, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS 40th Anniversary

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