Fashion designer, actor and hip-hop mogul P. Diddy is joining forces with a Kansas City manufacturer to produce a new line of custom, precision-forged aluminum rims for sports trucks, luxury SUVs and high-end American and German-made automobiles.
The 50-50 joint venture between Diddy’s Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group and Kansas City's Weld Wheel Industries was announced at the New York International Auto Show on Thursday (March 24). SJC Wheels will produce and sell "Sean John Wheels," named for the entertainer. They hit stores next month, retailing between $700 and $3,000 each.
"Wheels have become a fashion statement — a badge of taste and style," Diddy said. "We see an opportunity to bring excitement to the wheel category by delivering the Sean John sophisticated design with the best quality production."
Partner Greg Weld, the founding president and chief executive of Weld Wheel, said Diddy told him he'd show him how to "bring some sexy" to the wheel business.
Designed specifically to reflect the sexy, sophisticated P. Diddy lifestyle image, Sean John Wheels are custom crafted for unmatched strength, lightness, and optimum brake cooling ability, and combine stylish, aggressive multi-spoke designs with an aura of elegance that will top off any custom or luxury ride.
The Sean John Wheel Collection is a high-end, quality alternative to mainstream custom wheels. Each of the nine Sean John signature wheel designs – from the elegant six-spoke to the amazingly intricate 18-spoke versions – is built to Weld’s legendary toughness and durability standards, delivering low moment of inertia for improved acceleration, and improved air flow to help cooling and reduce lift and drag.
Weld, a 61-year-old former auto racing driver who started his wheel manufacturing business in 1970, was a little overwhelmed at the attention attracted by his new partner, marveling at his ability to work a crowd and "build his brand."
"He is an icon in the urban market and the urban market is huge, the single biggest segment of wheel business," Weld said. "But we did not know how to tap into that market. Having a personality or high-profile person is a little like Nike getting together with Michael Jordan. It increases recognition."
"In the urban market, they call it 'bling-bling' which means showy, shiny and 'look at me, I have a lot of bling,'" he said. "The way we've designed spokes, holes, the features, it looks like it is aggressively moving when it's not even moving."
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