Issue #275 So What About Hodaka?
News from the ATK factory raises questions about the nature of branding.
What’s in a name? Apparently a lot. South of the border the company we in Canada know as Hyosung will soon be selling bikes under the ATK brand. Or perhaps it’s the other way around, ATK will be selling rebadged Hyosungs. Based in Utah, ATK was a small producer of Trials and off-road bikes, but now has much larger aspirations with a 33,000-bike capacity over the next four years.
A visit to the “new” ATK Motorcycles website reveals the bikes are previously-badged Hyosung models now carrying the ATK name. The marketing drive according to the website is to get these new bikes into participating Harley-Davidson dealerships as the “second American brand.”
This example of brand engineering leaves me a little baffled. ATK is an American brand, hence it’s easier to get the product into Harley shops where the ATK bikes may offer consumers a lower price point for an entry level bike or, if they prefer, a small displacement sportbike.
But back to the name. Why ATK? Yes it was an existing brand, but if you wanted to started a brand and call it American why not come up with a new name? ATK has no long history of street bikes so it is not history they are marketing. If the idea was to rebadge the bikes under an American brand name what about Hodaka?
Someone out there must still own the naming rights to that company. Hodaka was another joint venture company in the 1960s and ‘70s based in Athena, Oregon (a town so small I had trouble finding it on a map). It has an interesting history including being a subsidiary of Shell Oil.
The model names they could resurrect from Hodaka would be some of the best in the industry: the Dirt Skirt, Road Toad, Super Rat, Wombat and my personal favourite, the Combat Wombat. The company still has a loyal following with a “Hodaka Days” reunion every year in Athena. For those who can find it, that is.
The website Strictly Hodaka.com still sells Hodaka parts—and authentic Italian sausages (voted by Men’s Journal as “Sausage of the month”). Brand enthusiasm and sausage: how good is that? Success would have to be just around the corner.
Those of you with an eagle eye may have noticed a Hyosung model bearing the ATK brand at the Vancouver Motorcycle Show in January. Hyosung has spent several years diligently trying to establish a foothold in the Canadian market and now it seems they may have to take a step backward and do it again with a new brand name, ATK.
Elsewhere in the name game, Polaris recently announced the acquisition of Indian Motorcycles from the latest of a long line of owners. It was the purchase of a name and a history but one with excellent potential as Indian has an almost mythical aura that dates back to the turn of the last century. Polaris can now rightfully claim it produces both the “New American Motorcycle” (Victory) and the “Old American Motorcycle” (Indian). Both ends of the spectrum are now covered. With deeper pockets and marketing resources than previous would-be revivers of the Indian marque have ever had, Polaris may be able to do what John Bloor did with Triumph and resurrect true success in a storied brand.
Will Hodaka be next?
