Koronis moves to increase its UTV market presence

INDIANAPOLIS — Koronis Parts, a Paynesville, Minn., manufacturer, is seeking to build its aftermarket presence in the UTV market with a recent acquisition.
The long-time, privately owned company recently purchased the brand names of Speed Industries and Beard Seats as well as all the inventory and fixture and tooling associated with those brands from Tim Sousamian, who owns RedArt Corp., says Todd Froelich, Koronis’ national sales manager. As part of the new arrangement, Sousamian will continue to work with the Speed and Beard brands through Koronis Parts, Froelich says.
The acquisition was finalized Jan. 1, but Froelich says discussions started last year. As a result, the companies were able to quickly bring to market a number of new products under the Speed and Beard brand names.
Froelich says Koronis Parts will continue to use the Speed and Beard brand names in the long term for the UTV market.
Besides bringing Koronis Parts, a longtime snowmobile accessory manufacturer, the UTV lines, the acquisition also adds further depth to its manufacturing capabilities, Froelich says.
“If you want to make a piece of plastic, we can vacuum-form it,” he said. “If you need a bumper, we can weld it and bend it. Now with Beard and Speed Industries, we can cut and sew it.”
Koronis Parts handles a number of manufacturing jobs in-house in Minnesota, including offering snowmobile parts and accessories through its Sno Stuff brand, custom motorcycle frames and parts with its Dakota Thunder brand and private label parts and accessories for a number of OEMs. The company, Froelich says, can manufacture anything tubular, including handlebars and bumpers, as well as handle
CNC-machined components.
“It allows us, in a private-label atmosphere, to offer a one-stop shop to everybody,” he said.
The acquisition allows Koronis Parts to offer that one-stop shopping for UTVs, a market category that has grown immensely in the past three years.
“If you start at the front of the vehicle, from the bumper, and then you go to the rear bumper, we have everything in between it,” Froelich said, noting that includes light bars, the seats, harnesses, harness bars, the roll cages and the exhaust system.
Part of the acquisition included a California warehouse where the cutting and sewing of the Beard Seats line will continue. This new location also will allow Koronis Parts to ship more easily to its West Coast-based distributors. However, Froelich says Koronis Parts is looking at eventually bringing all of its distribution through its Minnesota facility.
— Neil Pascale