Dealer Expo 2006

A new start for Global firms
Global Motorsports Group hopes the Dealer Expo can be one more step in the company’s revitalization.
The parent company of distribution firms Custom Chrome and Motorcycle Stuff underwent a change in ownership at the beginning of the year.
On Jan. 9, Global announced that affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management, a private investment firm, had purchased the majority stake in the company.
“We have brand new ownership,” said Scott Martindale, director of marketing for Global Motorsports Group, “that has one vision — that vision is to get us back to No. 1.”
That change in ownership won’t be reflected at the Dealer Expo in the faces at Custom Chrome’s booth, No. 841, or at Motorcycle Stuff’s booths, No. 819, 825, 2639.
However, the new ownership wants to ensure there’s “two-way communication between customers and us figuring out what the customer wants,” Martindale said.
“We are fully prepared to act upon that,” he said, noting the company is able to financially move forward with producing new product. “There’s no secret in the industry that we’ve had our challenges, but we’re on the upswing.”
Martindale said the company is refining in-house processes and seeking product ideas from designers and industry influencers as well as working with the vendor community to continue to build that relationship.
“That’s very important,” Martindale said of the communication between the marketplace and Custom Chrome. “We may have lost track of that.
“This year is going to be a very exciting year for Custom Chrome,” Martindale said. “People have stuck with us through some hard times and we appreciate that. We’ll reward them this year.”
Rewards should come in the way of new motorcycles and never-seen-before products, he said.
The latter Martindale could not discuss specifically, but he did note that the company announced three new motorcycles at the Las Vegas trade show held in November. The company also is hoping to unveil three more new motorcycles in 2006.
Martindale also said Custom Chrome has completed a move into a new production and warehouse facility in Southern California. The company has begun manufacturing billet wheels at the facility. psb