One of North America’s largest aftermarket manufacturer conglomerates is filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the US.
The Motorsport Aftermarket Group (aka MAG), which owns many familiar brands (Progressive Suspension, Burly Brand, Roland Sands Design, Renthal, Vance & Hines, J&P Cycles, and more) is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Asphalt & Rubber reports. Supposedly, MAG is $300 million US in the hole.
Perhaps the first cracks in the MAG empire appeared in the past few months, when it essentially closed down Motorcycle-USA.com, and sold off Cycle News. What this latest announcement means for the remaining brands under the MAG umbrella isn’t exactly clear, but likely we’ll see changes.
For a more detailed analysis of what’s going on here, you should check out Beeler’s excellent breakdown at A&R. He’s calling it this year’s most important motorcycle news in the US, and from what we see, he may be right. If an aftermarket manufacturer which sells to all genres of riders is in trouble this deep, then the industry as a whole definitely needs to pay attention. MAG’s press release detailing the situation is here.
Another example, I would guess, that bigger may not necessarily be better…..