Dealernews Acquired by Powersports Dealers
COLUMBUS, OH (PRWEB) December 19, 2016 -- DN 2.0 LLC, a Columbus, OH-based company, today announced that it has acquired Dealernews from UBM. DN 2.0 LLC intends to relaunch the 51-year-old powersports media brand with a new mission and new utilities to serve franchised and non-franchised powersports retailers and service shops in the United States and Canada.
DN 2.0 LLC is unveiling a new website for Dealernews, with the purpose of providing business news and industry education for powersports retail dealers, and service and performance businesses. The North American powersports industry is responsible for retailing more than $24 billion in products and vehicles associated with motorcycles, ATVs, side-by-sides, scooters, personal watercraft and snowmobiles.
Dealernews, Dealernews.com, the DealerNEWS ALERT enewsletters and the Dealernews Top 100 competition have been dormant since its former owner shuttered the business in December 2015. The new owners plan to expand the Dealernews family of offerings in new ways that will engage the 9,000-plus powersports retailers in North America, and enable dealer and shop personnel to connect and collaborate with each other to solve business-specific and, ultimately, industry-wide challenges.
“Just as successful powersports equipment dealers are able to forge unique relationships with their customers through special events like road rallies that they host and sponsor, the new Dealernews will be there to facilitate conversations and exchange ideas among those professionals involved in the powersports retail market,” said DN 2.0 LLC Founder and President Bob Althoff. “What we are doing is unprecedented in the powersports industry.”
Althoff also is the principal owner of A.D. Farrow Co. Harley-Davidson, which has three dealerships in the Columbus, Ohio, area.
Chairman and co-founder of DN 2.0 LLC is Stan Simpson, past chairman of the American Motorcyclist Association and former owner of JRJ Sports Center in Cibolo, Texas.
“Successful dealers make the entire powersports industry stronger, and the new Dealernews will again become the voice of the powersports retail market,” said Simpson. “The changes we have made to Dealernews are designed to serve this audience in a way that no other organization or media outlet is currently capable of, making it of the dealer, by the dealer and for the dealer.”
Scott Johnson, president of Basic Media Group in Columbus, Ohio, is also a co-founder of Dealernews. Johnson brings extensive experience in media sales and business development to DN 2.0 LLC.
Also part of the management team is Mary Green, joining Dealernews as vice president and general manager. Green (formerly Mary Slepicka) was the content director and associate publisher of Dealernews for more than a decade.
Dealer advisors for the relaunch include a starring list of veteran powersports retail professionals, located throughout the United States and Canada. They are:
- Joey Belmont of Big #1 Motorsports in Birmingham, Alabama
- Jim Boltz of Lynnwood Cycle Barn and Smokey Point Cycle Barn in Marysville, Washington (Boltz also is president of the Washington State Motorsport Dealers Association)
- Jim Foster of Killeen Power Sports in Killeen, Texas
- Malcolm Hunter (retired) of Trev Deeley Motorcycles in Vancouver, British Columbia
- Robert Kay of Star City Motorsports in Lincoln, Nebraska and Platte River Harley-Davidson in Grand Island, Nebraska
- Bob Kee of Destination Cycle, Kerrville, Texas
- Jerry Lenz of Bob Lanphere's Beaverton Motorcycles in Tigard, Oregon
- Kurt Mechling of Performance PowerSports, Seneca, South Carolina
- Dave Mungenast Jr., of Mungenast Motorsports in St. Louis, Missouri
- Don Owens of Dothan Powersports in Dothan, Alabama
- Mark Peterson of Southwest Superbikes in Dallas, Texas
- Sandy Stroope of Boat World Honda Polaris in Harrison, Arkansas.
- Rounding out the advisory board is Laura Lemco, president of Dealership Valuation Services, Dennis Larratt of the Colorado Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition, and Mike Vaughan, former motorcycle OEM executive and past publisher of Dealernews. Both Lemco and Larratt are based in Littleton, Colorado; Vaughan is based in Oceanside, California.
The new owners will roll out a number of announcements over the coming weeks, which will reveal additional details about this important relaunch of a venerated media brand.
About DN 2.0, LLC
Founded in 2016, DN 2.0 is a business information service that serves powersports retailers, and service and performance businesses.
PETER WILTJER, PWMG, INC., +1 (630) 701-3363, [email protected]
Share this article