July 31st, 2007 James
After months of waiting on the part of planners, financiers, mechanics and riders, Gateway BMW opened for business on July 31 2007.
We’re an entirely new shop, located at 2690 Masterson Ave. Suite 300, St.Louis, MO. 63114
The owner of our shop is Dave Hunter. Dave has been a BMW rider since 1976. After the closing of the previous shop, Dave saw the opportunity to fill the void left behind. Dave has spent the last 30 years as a retirement manager. With that experience under his belt, Dave recognized that St. Louis still had the strong need for a BMW motorcycle dealership. He also knew Bob Honz (Formerly sales manager of BMW Motorrad) was looking to find a backer for his long time dream to open up a new BMW motorcycle dealership. So Dave teamed up with Bob Honz. Honz will be the general manager, while Hunter provides the funding. Hunter will be there almost every Saturday.
We’re building this business from scratch, and we’re proud of that. We’ve put together a staff of employees who are riders. We’ve taken motorcyclists with diverse skill sets away from other jobs to come and work at a motorcycle dealership. They share the passion and are all committed to the success of the dealership. We know that their talents and abilities will transfer over to help us serve our customers. As a result, we’re adding new lines of accessories weekly. Items that as riders ourselves would like to see in a shop. It won’t be long till we have the shop loaded with cool gadgets that motorcyclist like and want for their bikes.
A lot of our customers are not beginners. They are passionate and bright and we are here to serve them. We want to connect with all the loyal BMW riders, and then we want to extend an invitation to the new folks also. Whether they are riders of other brands or new to riding, to come on over to the shop and kick some tires. Maybe take a BMW motorcycle out for a test ride. Or just hang out for a while and see what the BMW motorcycle community is all about. For the travelers, wireless Internet is available in the building, and efforts have been made to make it a meeting place for riders. We even have a stack of old and new M/C related video’s and a big TV for you to watch while you hang out or are waiting for your bike as it’s being serviced
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July 20th, 2007 James
Munich. BMW will acquire the renowned motorcycle company Husqvarna Motorcycles. Dr. Herbert Diess, General Director of BMW Motorrad, and the Italian industrialist Claudio Castiglioni signed a contract on 19.07.2007 in Italy. The contractual agreement will come into full effect upon final approval of the EU cartel authorities. Both parties agreed that the purchase price was to remain confidential.
For BMW Motorrad the acquisition of Husqvarna Motorcycles is a logical step in enhancing the company’s activities in the field of light, sporty motorcycles, which has recently been reinforced with the new models of the BMW G 650 X series. Commenting on BMW’s decision to acquire Husqvarna Motorcycles, Diess, General Director of BMW Motorrad, stated: “With the Husqvana models targeted at the sporty competition, we will be able to extend the BMW Motorrad range to include younger groups of customers as well as the entire off-road and supermoto sector much more quickly and effectively than with our core brand alone. This transaction also provides us with direct access to a worldwide sales network in the off-road segment.”
BMW Motorrad plans to continue operating Husqvarna Motorcycles as a separate enterprise. All development, sales and production activities, as well as the current workforce, will remain in place at its present location in the region of Varese in northern Italy.
Just as BMW Motorrad, Husqvarna Motorcycles is steeped in tradition and one of the most renowned motorcycle companies in the world. Motorcycles were initially produced in Sweden from 1903 and in Italy from 1986. Today the company is one of the leading suppliers of sporty off-road motorcycles. In the course of its history, Husqvarna Motorcycles has achieved numerous international racing victories including European and World Championship titles.
BMW Motorrad produced and sold over 100,000 motorcycles for the first time (production: 103,759 units, delivery 100,064 units) in 2006. The production program includes only large-volume motorcycles over 500 cc. BMW Motorrad is the largest European manufacturer in this segment. In 2006, BMW Motorrad achieved sales of 1,265 million euros, with pre-tax profits of 66 million euros. BMW Motorrad employed an average of 2,816 staff worldwide in 2006.
Husqvarna Motorcycles is part of the Italian company MV Agusta S.p.A. and produced some 12,000 motorcycles in the capacity range of 125 to 610 cc in 2006. The focus of the company’s model program is on sporty off-road motorcycles which are equipped solely with single cylinder engines. Husqvarna Motorcycles employed a workforce of approximately 240 in Italy in 2006.
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