New HD CEO has a Plan.............

R

ReSTored

Well-known member
 
ReSTored said:
Well, here we go again. A new CEO, a new plan to save HD,


Rinse and repeat. Let;s revisit in 2 - 3 years. I predict a continuing decline in sales as their core supporters age or, due to economic issues, can't afford their over priced rides.
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It's a bit like dieting. A short period of enthusiasm followed by burgers and fries.
 
I've found the recent HD saga to be really interesting.

I'm neither pulling for them nor against them, but their failure would be bad to a lot of people so I hope a realistic plan can carry them profitably forward.

It illustrates the difficulty in finding "the sweet spot" for a company that makes, then sells stuff in search of profit. The interaction of production volume, sales volume and declining costs per unit based on production volume is a complicated balance on it's own but then add the implications of demographic changes, market perception of your product, public perception of your company, regulatory barriers, and economic forecasting and before you know it you're either a genius or another sad-faced FORMER rising star executive killing time on the golf course (with a sizeable severance package in the bank).

The cafe racer looks OK, but perhaps a little overdone. Plus I expect it will be a special release and will be priced well beyond what I'd be open to pay for it. I find the original XLCR, and both the STORZ street tracker and cafe racer much more appealing and evoke more of the HD flat track/ competition history that resonates with me.
 
Seems a convergence of many things has torpedoed them, the economy, aging out demographic, politics, shortsighted planning etc. At almost 69 I`m likely at the top end of potential new customers that could swing a deal. I`d love the new `26 Low Rider ST, in orange please, but $31.6K plus tax? I dunno` man, that`s a pile of coin.
 
timtune said:
WOW! an 80% drop in dealer profitability in 6 years. Stick the fork....
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H-D is bringing back the air cooled 883 Sportster for 27/28, could be interesting but it will be built to a price point, around 10K U.S. So that means 13 to 14K here for a bare bones bike. The Bronx or a 975 Pan-Am especially would make more sense.
 
I've always felt they had too many similar tools in the lineup, all competing with each other.

They all essentially do the same thing, its not like they have 1 model range for sporty riding, one model range for offroad, one model range thats great for racing etc etc


Didnt add an ADV bike to their line up till 2021 😲
 
Glenn/RZ500 said:
H-D is bringing back the air cooled 883 Sportster for 27/28, could be interesting but it will be built to a price point, around 10K U.S. So that means 13 to 14K here for a bare bones bike. The Bronx or a 975 Pan-Am especially would make more sense.
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The trouble with the Bronx or a smaller Pan-Am is that it would have had to compete with other manufacturers models in terms of performance. The HD "character" would only drive sales so far, and they likely determined that it wouldn't be far enough to be profitable.
 
bigpoppa said:
I've always felt they had too many similar tools in the lineup, all competing with each other.
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I think you're spot on. That and any "different tool" had to be a "similar tool". Think their starter bike the Blast (Be Last, what a dumb name) or their ADV the PanAm, both were big heavy versions of their specific niche.
 
Glenn/RZ500 said:
Seems a convergence of many things has torpedoed them, the economy, aging out demographic, politics, shortsighted planning etc. At almost 69 I`m likely at the top end of potential new customers that could swing a deal. I`d love the new `26 Low Rider ST, in orange please, but $31.6K plus tax? I dunno` man, that`s a pile of coin.
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I agree. Though I had a Harley for 6 months and determined it wasn't suitable for my preferred riding, I STILL like some of the models enough to consider them. Then the affordability issue you note comes up. Given the reasonable prices advertised for low mileage, relatively recent used ones out there I can't justify spending that much on one.
To be fair, that also goes for new BMW's and many other bikes, but with the Harleys it just seems to me there couldn't be enough of a performance difference between a good, low mileage twin shock FX model and one of the new models to feel good about paying the new-bike premium.
 
xrljoel said:
The trouble with the Bronx or a smaller Pan-Am is that it would have had to compete with other manufacturers models in terms of performance. The HD "character" would only drive sales so far, and they likely determined that it wouldn't be far enough to be profitable.
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Also there's huge profit margin on the heavy-weight ADVs, much more so than the lighter, smaller displacement ADVs, which has negligible difference in production costs, but must be priced much lower to compete in the market.

There's a reason why BMW never made a 600cc SuperSport version of its S1000RR Superbike. Less margin.

This constant see-sawing on HD strategy is not going to win over hearts and minds of the buying public. Zietz has already spent quite a few years telling the unwashed masses, "Sorry, we're going after the deep-pocketed dentists". And now they reverse course to try to win back the entry-level market? Just really messed up messaging.
 
Will be interesting to watch things unfold.
Where I'm at I see many wanting lower displacement motorcycles.
Either due to age, price, or as a 2nd motorcycle.
As I'm getting older, I kind of feel the same way.
 
So the younger generation has kicked smoking, drinking and dressing like a pirate.

Maybe it’s just a fashion thing? Get Lululemon to make Harley gear and Blundstone to make Harley boots and put onboard computers with text capabilities and a TikTok selfie cam so that they can also ride and text like ******* demons not just drive and text.

Get off my lawn.
 
Even Triumph adapts to the times. They add and remove models as trends come and go. The “standard” offers remain but, they dropped some models like the Thunderbird and Sprint. I suspect the Bobber will drop soon.


All this to say you can offer the classic models that have a following and launch new models in categories and do well there too.

Harley can learn a thing or three. I think Indian is in jeopardy of falling into trouble like HD.
 
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nakkers said:
Even Triumph adapts to the times. They add and remove models as trends come and go. The “standard” offers remain but, they dropped some models like the Thunderbird and Sprint. I suspect the Bobber will drop soon.


All this to say you can offer the classic models the have a following and launch new models in categories and do well there too.

Harley can learn a thing or three. I think Indian is in jeopardy of falling into trouble like HD.
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I would be less than surprised to see Indian disappear anytime.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
 
So no more $150 grand race models?? :eek:

I too thought they had too many models, but really it's only 4 categories of bikes Tour, cruiser, sporty, and now ADV. They just have a lot more bikes per category then most other brands.

As for the Pan America, people seem to like them, and have done some great tours with them. Now if they could apply some of the same engineering to the rest of the line up they could score some points in reliability. I believe someone mentioned this about Triumph, having similar issues, and how they turned that all around.
 
sburns said:
I too thought they had too many models, but really it's only 4 categories of bikes Tour, cruiser, sporty, and now ADV.
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Other than the ADV, they all look kinda the same to me...?

I'm not racist, some of my best friends are Harley Riders!

My buddy trying to tell me the difference between his Road King and the Road Glide and the Ultra Wide Dyna Glide Heritage Hardtail Springer Special Edition.

And me:

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sburns said:
So no more $150 grand race models?? :eek:

I too thought they had too many models, but really it's only 4 categories of bikes Tour, cruiser, sporty, and now ADV. They just have a lot more bikes per category then most other brands.

As for the Pan America, people seem to like them, and have done some great tours with them. Now if they could apply some of the same engineering to the rest of the line up they could score some points in reliability. I believe someone mentioned this about Triumph, having similar issues, and how they turned that all around.
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Triumphs issues were basically the same as all British motor products - poor engineering from end to end.

Triumph reinvented itself by changing the way design, build, test and quality engineering worked. The became more like Honda and Yamaha - ditched the traditional tenure system for engineers, sourced subsystems systems from Japan snd Germany, and built a modern plant instead of the typical Industrial Revolution types that were common in England.

Very un-British.
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