A Hollister-based motorcycle manufacturing company plans to roll
out of San Benito County and roar into Oklahoma.
A Hollister-based motorcycle manufacturing company plans to roll out of San Benito County and roar into Oklahoma.
Fast Trac Manufacturing, a local maker of motorcycles founded in 2001, announced it will relocate to Tahlequah, Okla., with plans to expand its operations and change its name to align itself with the Cherokee Nation.
Fast Trac currently runs a “small operation” at 2560 San Juan-Hollister Road and employs about 10 people to 12 people. However, once in Oklahoma, company officials plan to expand the business to employ between 250 and 300 people within two years, according to president and CEO Bob Fien.
“There is a very good likelihood eventually we will move and expand into Cherokee and move into Oklahoma,” Fien said.
Once Fast Trac relocates – a timeframe yet to be determined – the manufacturer will change its name to the Cherokee Motorcycle Company. Its line of motorcycles, which stands at three models, would also carry the Cherokee name.
The move has been planned primarily to create an association between the company and the Cherokee Nation. Fien said it would also allow for lower production costs, lower taxes and cheaper labor. He said the relocation would lower total overhead costs by about 25 percent.
“We don’t want to be sitting here in Hollister using the name Cherokee… So that opportunity is what’s really driving us,” Fien said.
Al Martinez, director of the Economic Development Corporation, called the cost of doing business in California “terrific” – with a negative connotation.
“It’s a killer for us,” he said, “the cost of living, the cost of doing business, the taxes.”
Fast Trac broke ground in Tahlequah on a new 40,000-square foot manufacturing facility in May 2002, according to a Cherokee Nation press statement. The Cherokee Nation is based in Tahlequah, Okla.
Fien said Fast Trac is working with the Cherokee Nation to use the name in a “politically correct” manner.
The company began its current transformation by applying for a trademark for the Cherokee name earlier this year with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Fast Trac applied for the Cherokee name when the company was launched in 2001.
Fast Trac is facing a deadline and must begin using the name within six months, according to Fien. He said the company is not pressed for time on enacting use of the trademark and will soon launch the first Cherokee motorcycle.
“We have the trademark for use of the name Cherokee on motorcycles and also for use of the word Cherokee Motorcycle Company,” Fien said.
There are two branches to the company – Fast Trac and Hell Bent, which produces motorcycle parts.
Fien said the Hell Bent portion of the business will remain in Hollister. He also said the company plans to maintain research and development operations in Hollister.
