Photo: Facebook capture
Here's something new from the rumor mill: the newest piece of would-be news mentions that EBR was bought by a company called Atlantic Metals Group. Google will not return too many conclusive results for this search string so we're taking everything with a big pinch of salt.
After the first rumor on EBR that surfaced had the American manufacturer bought by the Indian bike giant Hero, and was immediately proven as nothing more than sterile, credulous and bad "journalism", here's a new one.
As we reported, a new auction for the remaining EBR assets was scheduled for the 5th of August, after Hero only bought a fraction of what was up for grabs. The Indian manufacturer got hold of the R&D assets EBR had been working on for Hero and paid $2.8 mil for "tangible and intangible assets", calling it even and renouncing any further claims.
Of course, it wasn't the manufacturing part that led to EBR's financial difficulties. The problem lies at the other end of the business, the very one that should transform manufacturing in money: sales!
For some reason, EBR failed to sell as many bikes as estimated, and this quickly led to debt build-up. EBR had secured funds to expand the dealership network and improve the spare parts supply chain, but still, it looks like Erik is a much better engineer than he is a businessman.
Meanwhile, we are still waiting for official information on the 5th August auction to appear on the official EBR media channels. We searched for "Atlantic Metals Group" and found no relevant data.
Google returned a result for Atlantic Metal Industries from New Jersey, but that's about all there is it. The Facebook rumor mentioned that the new owners of EBR were from NJ, so this is it for now. We kept on refreshing the EBR page but nothing new arrived until the time of publishing this piece.
If anything, we do hope someone good at making motorcycle business picks up Erik Buell Racing and makes the necessary changes to turn it into a profitable outfit.
As we reported, a new auction for the remaining EBR assets was scheduled for the 5th of August, after Hero only bought a fraction of what was up for grabs. The Indian manufacturer got hold of the R&D assets EBR had been working on for Hero and paid $2.8 mil for "tangible and intangible assets", calling it even and renouncing any further claims.
Who buys EBR can start producing motorcycles right away
The remaining EBR assets are/were up for grabs as a whole, so an interested buyer could acquire the company and start producing motorcycles in a fairly short time.Of course, it wasn't the manufacturing part that led to EBR's financial difficulties. The problem lies at the other end of the business, the very one that should transform manufacturing in money: sales!
For some reason, EBR failed to sell as many bikes as estimated, and this quickly led to debt build-up. EBR had secured funds to expand the dealership network and improve the spare parts supply chain, but still, it looks like Erik is a much better engineer than he is a businessman.
Meanwhile, we are still waiting for official information on the 5th August auction to appear on the official EBR media channels. We searched for "Atlantic Metals Group" and found no relevant data.
Google returned a result for Atlantic Metal Industries from New Jersey, but that's about all there is it. The Facebook rumor mentioned that the new owners of EBR were from NJ, so this is it for now. We kept on refreshing the EBR page but nothing new arrived until the time of publishing this piece.
If anything, we do hope someone good at making motorcycle business picks up Erik Buell Racing and makes the necessary changes to turn it into a profitable outfit.
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