PowerSports Business

w w w . p o w e r s p o r t s b u s i n e s s . c o m NEWS: Kendon announces new ownership . . . . . . . PAGE 3 MOTORCYCLE: KBB.com's top-searched bikes . . . . . . . . . PAGE 30 PWC: PWC sales increased in 2014 . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 32 SNOW: Arctic Cat earns X Games gold . . . . . . . . . PAGE 34 Mattighofen, Austria-based KTM announced record sales for the fourth consecutive year. Unit sales of KTM and Husqvarna were 158,760 units, an increase of 28.2 percent from 2014. Revenue increased to 864.6 million Euro ($979.4 million), a 20.7 percent increase. Also, the company now employs 2,143, an increase of 294 from 2013 and an all-time high number of employees. In 2014, KTM invested 85 million Euro ($96.2 million) in its Mattighofen INSPIRING SUCCESS THROUGH MARKET INTELLIGENCE A step forward Bates Footwear launches its first four shoes designed for motorcyclists. SEE PAGE 28 HOTNEWS Taking a SHOT Powersports companies seek sales from outdoors enthusiasts at SHOT Show in Las Vegas. SEE PAGE 8 New entrant Yamaha introduces its latest side-by-side, the 708cc Wolverine R-Spec. SEE PAGE 24 New reps from Marshall, new brands and a new format BY DAVE McMAHON EDITOR IN CHIEF Sales reps for Western Power Sports and its American V-twin sister brand HardDrive Parts spent a full week off the dealership path in January. There was work to be done in Boise, Idaho, home of WPS, however, and the WPS reps logged plenty of extended workdays during the newly formatted National Sales Meeting. Out was the old 2-3 day gathering that showcased both street and off-road products. Instead, the off-road vendors had the Century Link Arena floor on Monday and Tuesday to start the show. While they departed Wednesday, the on-road vendors moved in, and WPS reps scattered throughout the city to undergo regional sales and training meetings. Fans of blue football fields were in for a treat when the weeklong event ended PSB: FOCUS Nifty 50 Awards SEE PAGE 16 See Hot News, Page 3 February 16, 2015 • Volume 18, Number 3 • $3.99 WPS displays growth at vendor show DOLLARS AND SENSE As I write this, it is January of 2015. I first landed at a desk in a Honda motor- cycle dealership in January of 1972, and have been in the industry almost every day since. That's 43 years in motorcycle. So, what has changed? Let's take a look. In 1972 there was no computer system available for motorcycle. Auto had it, but it cost $100,000 or more, and was out of reach for any motorcycle dealership. I know. I worked for ADP right out of college, and the thought of marketing to motorcycle was laughable. So, no computer system. That meant that all accounting was done with a #3 pencil and 13-column accounting paper. Or perhaps a legal size 4-column pad for journal entries. Parts invoices were listed, footed and cross- footed by hand. You did it twice to prove your balances. If you didn't get the same total, you started over. I had a permanent half-moon dent in the finger where my pencil lay. Major unit deals were hand calculated and handwritten. Contracts were handwritten, with payments interpolated from payment books you carried in your hip pocket next to a blue book. If the customer at pickup wanted to add something to the deal, he had to pay cash, or you gave it to him. It was just too hard to re-do the contract. Repair orders were handwritten. Amounts were figured on electronic desk calculators that were just coming into use in the early See Ethington, Page 37 What has changed? HAL ETHINGTON View the full list of winners - Page 16 4th record sales year in a row for KTM KTM announced worldwide record sales for the fourth consecutive year. See WPS, Page 11 Top left: Western Power Sports CEO Craig Shoemaker shows off his new digs — with some gadgets — at the company's Boise, Idaho, facility. Top right: Brand man- ager Jeremy Weismann displays the entry products for new WPS house brand, Highway 21. Above: The arena floor at Century Link Arena served as the weeklong home for WPS reps.

• Cover