Francesco with his son Zolo recently took over the Croc Promotion brand with the clear objective of relaunching the brand’s credibility and reputation.
For the first time, Zolo Drugda talks about what lies behind the Croc Promotion renaissance. Ori- ginally represented by Mec Kart, the brand was the largest meteor of 2019. Drugda, as you will read, shows that they have clear ideas on how to relaunch the brand and bring it – over time and through well-balanced choices – to the top. How? Thanks to the know- how of the EL.ZET team.
When did you decide to take over Croc?
When we, in the summer of 2019, found out that the current owner of the brand “CROC PROMOTION”, a company cal- led MEC KART, ceases its activities and as part of the liquidation proceedings sells its corporate assets, we were in shock. We had hopes in the particular company that it will refresh the brand and that it will widen the activities fur- ther. We immediately lost business with this company, however, more impor- tantly, we were sad that the brand, whi- ch was created during our presence as a supplier and later also as the co-ow- ner, and its subsequent activities on the market will cease to exist on the karting market.
As one of the biggest suppliers of the company MEC KART we were asked if we had interest in acquiring the entire company or part of the company. That is when we thought of acquiring a part of the company, namely the brand CROC PROMOTION, and save it by acquiring it. After a few weeks of negotiations with the liquidator of the company, we con- cluded and we bought the brand. There- fore, the new holder of the brand CROC PROMOTION is the company called EL.ZET.
“Even though the situation in karting is changing rapidly, we are ready to react to the market requirements now and in the future. Our target is to extend and strengthen the network of distributors so that they can provide quality service and support to drivers and teams.”
What’s your idea for the future?
Planning the future of the brand CROC PROMOTION was, taking into account the unexpected end of the manufacture in the company MEC KART, was par- ticularly difficult. Part of the clients of the brand was not assured; they were looking for new supplier. In a fast-mo- ving environment we had to, in parallel, sort out the renewal of the manufactu- rer, save the non-concluded agreemen- ts and, of course, solve the day-to-day running of the new business. The clear thoughts about the future of the bran- ded were becoming clearer on the go. In every case, we chose the careful approa- ch, mainly in the field of “racing”, so that we do not end up like our predecessor and solve the existing problems after a rocket start.
How are things going after less than a year of activities?
As we have already mentioned, we want to be careful whilst launching our new activity, the manufacture of the chassis. During such a short period, it would be premature to rate any kind of results. Alongside the original manufacture of the components for chassis, we have also established the manufacture of the entire chassis and we expedited a good number of these to our clients. Last year we managed to present ourselves on the exhibition called KARTING EXPO 2019 in Adria, we took part in the interna- tional race Winter Cup 2020, and these days we are also launching our website. To sum up, we are satisfied with the pre- sent state of our new activity.
“We have been a very well- known company in the karting field for almost two decades. We supply components for the biggest companies (Kart Republic, CRG, Righetti Ridolfi); however, the manufacture of the entire chassis takes us up to another level.”
What was your initial plan for this year and how has the Covid-19 emergency changed them?
Like all other companies worldwide, our company has also been slowed down by the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic. We had to limit the manufacture; we devoted ourselves to the development of new products and manufacture of pro- totypes. Currently, after the ease of the anti-epidemic measures, we are again running the business and shipments of our product at full speed, whether it is a shipment of components or shipment of the entire chassis. For us, it is the most important thing that we, our rela- tives as well as our employees, were not affected by this malicious virus and that we all remained healthy and we wish the same to all actors and supporters of karting.
What are the goal for this year right now?
Planning during the current situation is not appropriate. We will see how the karting market recovers, what the wil- lingness of the drivers will be like, but more importantly their parents to take part in the races.
In any case, we are ready to supply our products, whether these are componen- ts to our clients, or the complete chassis to our dealers. In the field of racing, we also have some plans, however, as pre- viously mentioned, these will depend on the further development of the current situation.
