I found this to be an interesting article. Although the main focus is on the bikes manufactured at the KC Plant, it contains a lot of thoughts dealing with Harley's future.

I don't totally agree with all of the comments (such as the mention of 'bikes produced at the KC Plant being mainly designed for younger riders, and 'the kids wanting their bikes all black'), but it's a good overall read.....



Despite layoffs, Harley confident about future

McClatchy Newspapers
Saturday, November 17, 2007


KANSAS CITY, Mo. - As U2's "One" piped over the hum of the assembly line, Karl Eberle showed off a motorcycle built at Harley-Davidson Inc.'s Kansas City plant.

The VRSCDX Night Rod Special is a sleek, sporty, all-black bike.

"It's a powerful bike," said Eberle, who helped launch the Kansas City plant 10 years ago and last week became senior vice president of Harley's manufacturing operations. "It's for young riders, and it's big in Europe. Everything's got to be all-black for kids."

The models made at this Harley plant generally are designed with younger riders in mind. But the Harley brand is best known for its heavyweight tour bikes that are the staple of its biggest customer base, the baby boom generation.

Harley-Davidson's impressive run of 20 consecutive years with higher sales and profits is expected to end in 2007, sparking some worries about the motorcycle maker's future. That worry can't help but wash over the 1,000 employees here, most of whom will experience their first temporary layoff the week of Nov. 26 as Harley tries to get its inventories in better shape.

The Milwaukee-based manufacturer certainly is in better shape than its counterparts in the auto industry. However, some experts wonder whether Harley's inability to attract more young riders will eventually hurt the company's financial performance.

The median age of a typical Harley buyer now is 47. Twenty years ago it was 35.

"The customer base is aging, and that's not going to change," said Don Brown, a motorcycle industry analyst in Irvine, Calif. "They've been helped by people who had this "rah-rah, buy American' mindset. The younger guys don't care about that. Harley is going to have to build a different type of motorcycle to compete with the Japanese."

As Chief Executive Jim Ziemer looks down the road, he sees the company's fortunes rising to meet him. Younger riders do want Harleys like the Night Rod built in Kansas City, he said, and its international sales are growing at a double-digit pace.

He believes Harley's recent setbacks are due mainly to the U.S. economy.

After reporting a disappointing third quarter, Harley said its full-year earnings per share will be down by 4 percent to 6 percent along with a "modest" sales decline. In 2006, the company earned $3.93 a share on $6.2 billion in revenue.
[/align]Shipments this year are expected to be between 328,000 and 332,000 vehicles, down from 349,196 last year. In September, the company announced that its five manufacturing plants will be down the week of Nov. 26 in response to the weaker demand.

While the Kansas City facility had a production slowdown a couple of years ago that resulted in a partial, temporary layoff, this will be the first time the entire plant will be idle for economic reasons.

But Ziemer points out that Harley's sales are split evenly between new and existing customers.

And while the median age of baby boomers is now 50, the average Harley buyer's age has risen only by 12 to 18 months in the past six years, according to Ziemer.

"We've got more and more programs aimed at younger riders," he said.

The company is also aggressively marketing to other new customers, such as women. Ten years ago, 2 percent of its customers were women, compared with 12 percent last year.

Harley is also in the high-performance bike business, aside from the models made at the Kansas City plant. I

 

Funny...this same article ran in the LA Times a few weeks ago.

 

The most stupid thing they ever did was ramp up the production in 03-04 oh well good luck to em

 

HD needs more bikes in their line-up that appeal to the younger rider. That guy in his twenties isn't interested in an 18 thousand dollar bike that he will need to spend another 3-4 grand on to run the way it should. The MoCo needs a Dyna and a Sportster model with a Revolution motor and power north of a hundred square out of the box. How many 25 year olds are looking for 700 lb bikes with 70 HP?

 

Younger male riders will eventually discover that young tattooed chicks prefer Harleys, or at least Harley Men....The only problem is, is that younger male riders don't knowhow to properly handleyoung tattooed chicks or Harleys....But us old farts do.

HD needs to be careful here cause they are delving into an area that involves more thanhi tech and power-to-weightratio......It deals with male-female instincts......It would benifit all young males to learnride with grace and confidence on an 800lb bike ....... and to slow dance with a 120lb maiden in same fashion.

 

I agree with that one. My personal opinion is that Harley has and makes too many bikes. Time to rethink, huh?

 

They are being forced to rethink by the EPA and the stockmarket too.

Did you guys know that Boss Hoss just hit the EPA wall?...Here is a link to an article about it:

http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs...WS01/712250330

Yep, another American icon is now extinct because of an American regulatory agency.....Is Harley next?......Yeah, eventually, because Harley will adapt and offer choked down watercooled bikes that "look" like Harleys but no longer perform or sound like Harleys.....And they will do it as long as they can until they are bought for scrap by Asian competition.

 

I remember reading almost the exact same crap about the decline of Harley and the V-twin engine 30 years ago.All the bike magazines of the time saying that the V-twin wouldn't be made any more bla bla bla.Now most of those magazines are out of buisiness and all the Jap company's make thier own copy of a Harley and Harley sells more big bikes than anyone else.

 

Interesting article.... I definitely don't think that the VRSCDX is a "kid's bike"... I have personally sold several of these bikes, and not to anyone under 30yoa... The last one I sold was to a gentleman age 54... Kid's bike lmao

 

Laff all you want, but I'm tellin ya the air cooled Harley is nearly extinct.

That's why I'm fixing to buy myself another one......This time a Fat Bob.