Twenty red Ural Motorcycles participated in the opening ceremony for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia. A spectacular procession of the legendary sidecar motorcycles rumbled across the ice at Fisht Olympic Stadium, symbolizing one of the achievements in Russia’s post-WWII reconstruction history and giving Ural a moment of recognition in front of an international audience.
“I feel very proud, really,” says Ilya Khait, Ural’s President & CEO. “ When you see your bikes in the event like this – you realize you’re a part of the history and the heritage of a huge country. And it gives you more reasons to keep going.”
On landing this enormous promo opportunity, Ilya Khait comments: “From the business stand point – to be seen by 3 billion people all over the world and get paid for it (organizers bought every single one of the 20 Urals) – that’s one hell of a product placement!”
Ural has been a privately owned company since 1992, with production based in Irbit, Russia. Urals are distributed internationally in the U.S., Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan, and China. The company recently launched an updated 2014 model lineup, with EFI, disc brakes on all three wheels, hydraulic steering damper and dozens of other upgrades. Read about the 2014 Ural Motorcycles lineup.
Ural also kicks off its 2014 Demo Tour across the U.S. this month, with stops in Salem, OR (Feb. 8), San Diego, CA (Feb. 15), Sacramento, CA (Feb. 22), Santa Clara, CA (Feb. 23), and Scottsdale, AZ (Mar. 8). The full demo schedule is still growing, and updates can be found on http://www.imz-ural.com/2014-ural-demo-tour/.
