Progressive and Sportline motor sports plan to merge

Progressive Motorsports in Hudson Falls and Sportline Power Products in Queensbury have agreed in principle to combine their dealerships into a single operating entity, Sportline said in a Dec. 6 press release.

“We’re super excited about it,” Sportline Owner Glenn Kelsey told The Chronicle. “I can’t wait to get rolling.”

The combined business, whose name is to be determined, will operate its retail and service operations in the current Sportline facility on East Quaker Service Road in Queensbury, and is expected to be operational by early spring.

“Over the next several months, the team will settle the final details of the arrangement and gain approval from the respective manufacturers,” said the press release.

Mr. Kelsey told The Chronicle merger has been in the works “a small amount of time.” He said, “Post-COVID, we see the market is changing, and we see an opportunity at this point in time.”

He said customers are “going to see premium products in a single location that really cover the bulk of the marketplace.”

Karen LaRose, dealer principal of Progressive Motorsports, was quoted in the press release that she believes the newly combined business will provide increased opportunities for Progressive’s employees, customers and suppliers.

“While we are still working through all the details with the manufacturers, they have expressed enthusiasm for the combination and what it can mean for both employees and customers,” she said.

Mr. Kelsey said, “We do share some brands. So there’s an opportunity to consolidate the market with respect to those brands, specifically Polaris and Can-Am. We have employee and management strength in both companies that we want to bring together and strengthen our team through that process. We’re going to be able to serve the customers better from a single location, we believe, than from two locations.”

He said, “We don’t believe it would have been possible” to have the merged facility on Progressive’s property. “We simply just have more retail space and land mass than they have.”

Mr. Kelsey said a focus leading up to merger will be “transforming our facility to properly have good work locations for the employees from Progressive, and be able to serve the customer legitimately from this single facility.”

Progressive Motorsports opened in Hudson Falls 31 years ago, said Mrs. LaRose. Sportline began as Jeckel Honda in the early 1970s, Mr. Kelsey said. It was bought and owned as Sportline Honda in the early 1990s. In 2003, Mr. Kelsey purchased the company and changed the name to Sportline Power Products.

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