Only a little over a month since opening their doors for business, American ATV and cycle manufacturer US Highland has suffered a terrible setback/ human tragedy.

On May 30th 2010, US Highland opened its doors and welcomed the public to showcase its new 33,000 square foot headquarters including R&D and production facilities. Over 800 attendees visited US Highland during the day-long event enjoying tours of the facility, great food and test rides of the Highland motorcycles on their factory test track. Visitors traveled in from as far as England, Spain, Northern Europe, Italy and Canada and from all over the USA and included dealers, government and business leaders and reporters in print media, radio and TV.

Then on June 1st the company commenced operations in their 14 acre / 33,000 square foot building complex with a successful Memorial Day Open House event.  The company would design and manufacture high performance custom Motocross, Supermoto, and Enduro bikes as well as performance ATVs.

Just as things were literally taking off for the firm, a plane crash on July 10 took the lives of the company’s president and two other top operation officers.  US Highland President and founder Mats Malmberg, 41, Chief Operating Officer Chase Bales, 51, and Chief Financial Officer Damian Riddoch, 37, were returning to Tulsa July 10 after a business trip in Detroit en route to Jones Riverside Airport in Tulsa on a fixed-wing multi-engine Cessna.  Bales, the pilot and owner of the plane, requested an emergency landing at Tulsa International, reporting the aircraft was low on fuel. The plane crashed shortly after in a wooded area in Mohawk Park, 2,000 yards northeast of Tulsa International Airport.

The human loss is immeasurable to the company but even the firm’s financial stability was shaken when the market opened the Monday after the accident.  On the morning of July 12 their shares started dropping and fell 54 cents (44 percent) to 75 cents at 3:45 p.m., the biggest drop since April 1.

Stocks have been slowly recovering but perhaps the biggest tragedy is that the momentum of the company’s market establishment was just solidifying when this blow sent them reeling.  Early critiques of the bikes and ATVs have been very favorable, reinforcing the hope that the domestic builder will resume its meteoric rise as legitimate competition to a market dominated by Japanese and European brands.

NTSB officials say that the cause of the crash hasn’t been determined as of yet but a through investigation is underway.

Our deepest sympathies to those left behind and hopes to the continued success of US Highland.  To view the company’s official site: http://www.ushighland.com/