IF unit sales are down, there is nothing positive about that. Accountants can only pull tricks out of their hats for so long when sales are going down year over year. HD has made it's own problems for years. Their pricing has gotten ridiculous in the past few years in my opinion. That can't be good for unit sales. There ARE other manufacturers out there. They DO have competition. The Faithful do have limits to what they will endure.

 

 

 

Oh please, the "U.S. labor is expensive" argument needs to go away. German labor isn't cheap either and they build some amazing motorcycles.. and then have to ship them to the U.S.

HD needs to catch up finally with their competition. They've been resting on brand loyalty for the last few decades and that well is drying up.

 

 

HD should only expand their offerings (cruisers, sports, adv) if they are going to be competitive. The adventure market, for example, has some serious contenders to deal with. BMW being the big dog in that market.

HD won't be able to make cheaper bikes so they need come up with a good bike for the money (value). Better bikes will have to include up to date technology. If you look at the BMW adventure bike it has technology HD doesn't offer on any model currently.

The adventure bike community it totally different from the group buying baggers.

It will be a major culture change for HD. The new CEO seems to understand the challenge. Let's see how it goes.

 

I read that sales are down but revenues up due to the fact that the touring line is still popular and is the most profitable. The cruiser line, which presumably includes the softails, is down year over year; those machines are less profitable.

 

Not only was H-D down 13% year over year, the entire industry was down 10% year over year, HDs market share has held steady at just over 50%. The fact that they’re able keep the company profitable in a shrinking market, HD isn’t going anywhere. They’re shrinking the company down to the size of the market. I’m more worried about the market shrinking, it’s sad that people don’t seem to be interested in this amazing activity we all love so much.

 

I did my part and bought a new one. I for one hope they have many great years. I hope the young generation get the same enjoyment I have for years. Nothing better than being in the wind and free.

 

IMHO one of the main reasons is due to people not being able to afford the cost of the bikes. Most new riders are going to metric bike as those are much less money for much more motorcycle. HD has nothing to offer them at this point in time. If you want to talk about the "Street" model in that market HD is over priced by more than a few thousand for a bike that under performs by miles to what the metric bikes offer. That's where the new riders are going, then if you look at Sportsters you've got the same issue and the bike has had no updated for over 10 years other than paint and looks, it just well out of date for the market. Most of the Touring market is completely out of reach for the new riders so it goes to us old farts that can afford it, and plenty are getting tired of getting the run around with problems that HD doesn't care to address.

So it's no wonder the market is shrinking and saying we still have the biggest part of a shrinking market to try and say its all OK is just dumb, IMHO. The accountants spin to keep the stock prices from going down the tubes like it did back in 2008. Time will tell but so far, it's not looking so good.