Harley-Davidson Profit Falls As Slide in Motorcycle Sales Continues | GTAMotorcycle.com

Harley-Davidson Profit Falls As Slide in Motorcycle Sales Continues

Blackfin

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"Harley-Davidson Inc. on Tuesday reported a 40% drop in quarterly profit as global sales of its motorcycles continued to slide.

Revenue fell 9% to $1.2 billion in the third quarter as the Milwaukee-based company retained guidance for shipping 241,000 to 246,000 motorcycles to dealers world-wide in 2017, down 6-8% from last year.


Harley, seeking to grow its customer base, has embarked upon plans to add 2 million new riders in the U.S. over the coming decade, and grow its international business to 50% of its total annual volume. The company is working to expand its appeal to women, minorities, young adults and city dwellers.



The challenge of the targets remained evident in the third quarter. Harley’s U.S. motorcycle sales dipped 8.1% to 41,793, while its international retail sales were off 4.6% to 22,416.



Harley said its U.S. market share increased in the latest quarter and its sales decline wasn’t as steep as the broader industry."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/harley...lide-in-motorcycle-sales-continues-1508244036

Good to see they're "working to expand its appeal to women, minorities, young adults and city dwellers"; their traditional demographic are at the age now where they're leaving bikes or dying off. Wonder what's in the product pipeline; a V-twin tiddler or will they move away from that architecture whilst going after chicks and urbanites such as trendy-beard metrosexuals and cell-phone zombies?
 
There's a whole lot of negative energy in this post
 
He aint wrong though

Their words and actions dont match.

They want young riders but keep releasing 20000 dollar bikes

Like the time i saw Ducati canadas President talk about how ducati wants to get new people into motorcycles and specifically ducati motorcycles, right before he unveiled a 22k bike at the toronto motorcycle show(this guy gets a big salary)

Apparently the Japanese are the only ones who understand economics, along with efficient production techniques


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Id love to get me a lowrider s or the new fatbob, but i aint got 23k of discretionary income to blow on a bike.
 
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There's a whole lot of negative energy in this post

Was gonna say.

Harley seems to be going in the right direction with the new Softails IMO. The bikes are (somewhat) more competitive with the rest of the industry. They will have to sell bikes based on their own merits at some point, not on mythology. Bearded urbanites like yours truly assign no value to the fact that the tank badge says Harley-Davidson. Just sell me a good bike.
 
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World market means smaller cc bikes. Where are those?

There's too much of the badboy, gang member, all-american imagery associated to Harley which used to be a great thing but not so much now (especially on the world scale)

I respect those cruisers but the pricing and sizing of them makes them unattractive for what i do: commute, weekend trips on and 'off'road, so im looking for gas mileage, comfort, affordability and nimbleness... which they only have one of i guess?

Honestly i can't really knock the riding quality since i've never ridden one. I wouldn't say no. I still hope they get out of their rut, they're still an iconic brand but i guess they need to adapt and 'get with the times' if they want to stop losing revenue
 
working to expand its appeal to women, minorities, young adults and city dwellers

if that work is the Street line, they need to go back to work
not HD bashing, they are very good at what they do: heavy cruisers

but if I were looking for an affordable to buy and operate 500 or 750 street bike
would not be gracing the doors of a Harley dealer

and I'm not alone, reviews and sales are not enthusiastic

may sound crazy, but I see them as possible buyout target by a larger motor company
 
Harley said its U.S. market share increased in the latest quarter and its sales decline wasn’t as steep as the broader industry."

I'd be curious how the rest of the motorcycle industry is doing before passing judgement on HD to put things into the proper context.
 
He aint wrong though

Their words and actions dont match.

They want young riders but keep releasing 20000 dollar bikes

Maybe the bike you want is out of reach, however that doesn't mean this statement is correct.

Harley recently released a series of bikes aimed at newer riders with thinner wallets. The street series doesn't necessarily appeal to you, or me for that matter, but they are there. I find they don't have the look or engine that I personally want from an HD, and for those criteria yes I would have to fork out more money. I personally do think that Harley did miss the mark on that one, but atleast they tried. The sportsters are pretty close to the look and power though, and pretty close to the money I spent on my shadow. Infact, if I would have seen the Iron before I bought my shadow, I probably would be riding HD right now.

Now, while I ride out the loan on my Shadow, I will be getting myself into a position to make the Breakout my next bike, can't stand the exhaust on the fatbob, otherwise I'd like it. Aside from a lottery win, I'll probably never have what I'd really like, A CVO Street Glide.
 
Out of reach? Perhaps, i just don't think its worth 20+ grand, (and according to all the reports, the people agree) not when you can buy an s1000rr for that kind of money.

Or a tuono for 5 grand cheaper

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don't know if it's intentional, but Ducati did hit a homerun with the Scrambler
fits that niche HD was aiming for and is selling like hotcakes with the hipster crowd
and at around 10K, is a way better quality bike than the similarly priced, but cheaped out Street series

View attachment 39078
 
Out of reach? Perhaps, i just don't think its worth 20+ grand, (and according to all the reports, the people agree) not when you can buy an s1000rr for that kind of money.

Or a tuono for 5 grand cheaper

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that's comparing oranges to roof shingles

they produce different types of motorcycles, some people can afford them, others cant, regardless of what you think its worth. Some may think an s1000rr and a Tuono aren't worth the money, but the fact is people buy both
 
Maybe the bike you want is out of reach, however that doesn't mean this statement is correct.

Harley recently released a series of bikes aimed at newer riders with thinner wallets. The street series doesn't necessarily appeal to you, or me for that matter, but they are there.

I've seen tons and tons of featherweight Japanese 300 and 500cc single and parallel twins but rarely have I seen a Street 750 or even 500. In fact, I can't recall ever seeing one. Their baby, the Street 500 weighs something like 488-lbs "in running order." It's making 300cc power and weighs a ton more than a nOoB would likely feel comfortable with. It may be "there" as a bike in the dealership but I don't see them selling a ton of these to the stated demographic target.

So I just wondered if their approach will change with an entirely new approach or if they're pretty much stuck with the HD image and architecture they've cultivated over the last 80 years. If it's the later, I don't see them appealing to any of their stated targets.

Whatever happened to the LiveWire? That might be what those people would dig...
 
"Harley-Davidson Inc. on Tuesday reported a 40% drop in quarterly profit as global sales of its motorcycles continued to slide.

Revenue fell 9% to $1.2 billion in the third quarter as the Milwaukee-based company retained guidance for shipping 241,000 to 246,000 motorcycles to dealers world-wide in 2017, down 6-8% from last year.


Harley, seeking to grow its customer base, has embarked upon plans to add 2 million new riders in the U.S. over the coming decade, and grow its international business to 50% of its total annual volume. The company is working to expand its appeal to women, minorities, young adults and city dwellers.



The challenge of the targets remained evident in the third quarter. Harley’s U.S. motorcycle sales dipped 8.1% to 41,793, while its international retail sales were off 4.6% to 22,416.



Harley said its U.S. market share increased in the latest quarter and its sales decline wasn’t as steep as the broader industry."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/harley...lide-in-motorcycle-sales-continues-1508244036

Good to see they're "working to expand its appeal to women, minorities, young adults and city dwellers"; their traditional demographic are at the age now where they're leaving bikes or dying off. Wonder what's in the product pipeline; a V-twin tiddler or will they move away from that architecture whilst going after chicks and urbanites such as trendy-beard metrosexuals and cell-phone zombies?


LOL. No, Harley Davidson is not going to save itself from bankruptcy by building you a low-priced sport bike.

Last time I looked (last year), 40% of Harley Davidson's buyers were under 35 years.

Always absent from these Harley-hate articles is how much the overall motorcycle market declined relative to its own decline. Telling everybody how terribly Harleys sell and how it's all because their market is aging is only mildly relevant if the broader overall market is collapsing. That indicates there's a far more serious problem with the industry.
 
Like I said, maybe they missed the mark, but they did try. Seems to me that the Street 500 was designed to compete in Rebel territory, which it does. The sportster line already combines the harley look, feel and sound with about as much power:weight ratio as they can do in keeping with what HD buyers are after, and it does it at Shadow money. Comparing the 2017 883N Iron to my 2017 Shadow, the Harley weighs only 15lbs more, but makes up for it with an extra 8NM of torque and around 5 extra HP. Doesn't sound like much but it's around 10% difference. Like I said, if I had seen the harley before I bought he Shadow, I would have got that one for the extra $1600.

The sales problems that they're experiencing seem to be coming mostly from a mix of misinformation from peers, and people just looking for a different kind of bike. And they've even chased that crowd by throwing an ugly sport bike exhaust on a fatboy and calling it fat bob. I think they need to stop chasing Honda's customers, axe the street series, take that stupid exhaust off the fat bob, and focus on attracting more of their own kind of buyer. Change the iron to a 1200 without adjusting the price, and advertise the damned thing properly. And watch the market share they steal back from Honda, yami and kawi. They also need to work on their stores. I've been to both Clare's stores, neither has any bikes, just overpriced apparel. Meanwhile, they took the brand away from the biggest HD dealer in the region. This is probably why I never laid eyes on the Iron, because if I want to go to a dealer where I can see any actual metal in person, I have to drive Cambridge or Mississauga.

The last thing they should be doing is trying to cater to people who don't want a Harley in the first place, they tried it before, and how much success did they have selling Buells to the guys that walk into a Harley showroom? No, like I said previously, get the young people interested in THEIR brand, instead of trying to compete with others.
 
Harley's heyday was selling to boomers
they're dying off and becoming too old to ride
next up are the Gen Xers - me
most Xers are okay with HD's and appreciate the quality/heritage foundation
but we are a small cohort, not gonna sustain sales, and we're getting up there in age too
next up are millennials
liberals, environmentally friendly, peace loving...the hipster crowd
they are not at all interested in the bad-boy image bikes their dads ride
while there's nothing wrong with the bikes
HD's lifestyle branding is going to have to change if they want millennials to come through the door
 
That's what's hurting them, trying to be what they're not. Stop trying to remold the brand, it isn't working. Remold the generation.

If I make chairs, I'm not going to attract running shoe customers to my chair company by trying to make a running shoe. Instead, I need to convince the running shoe buyer to take off their shoes, and sit in my damn chair lol.
 
Harley's big woes are stated failure in building the brand with millennial buyers. Basically this means they haven't got the product and marketing right for that crowd -- which in the motorcycle business is the same failure the British had in 70's. The young riders I know look at Harley's the same way they look at executive sedans - something for the future. That's not good because their 'today' dollars will go elsewhere, and that elsewhere typically has a better shot at selling them their next few bikes.

I'm betting they have a lot of smart people working on this problem, some even smarter than us. It's not easy to fix, and it wont be fixed quickly. But Harley is a survivor and they will get through a few rough years. The upside? When they faced this dilemma in the past, they have always come back stronger with better stuff... they'll do it again.
 
don't know if it's intentional, but Ducati did hit a homerun with the Scrambler
fits that niche HD was aiming for and is selling like hotcakes with the hipster crowd
and at around 10K, is a way better quality bike than the similarly priced, but cheaped out Street series

View attachment 39078

i probably fit in with the millenial crowd. currently riding a small suzuki tu250x which i love. my upgrade path will eventually be either the ducati scrambler or possibly a moto guzzi v7.

i don't think i would ever consider an HD. from my perspective, the typical HD crowd is not the type of rider i want to be associated with. i remember going to some harley-focused convention and was kinda surprised by the few but present racist patches people were wearing on their jackets. as a minority, i was out of there.
 

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