Harley has always had limited production... limited to how many they can sell! Creating some pent up demand by not oversupplying is good for Harley and the dealers and the riders. Harley does not have to discount. The dealers are not sitting on lots of unsold bikes creating overhead and expenses. Harley owners have excellent resale value because new bikes are not getting discounted and pushing down used bike prices. Oversupply doesn't help anyone.

 

My dealer has always shot me pretty straight and he told me back in July after the meeting where the 08 bikes were introduced the MOCO told them they were not going to flood the market like they did in 07 to try to get the used bike sales back up, imo they had flooded before 07 but like someone said earlier they have always had limited just limited to what they can sell

 

When I was shopping for my I contacted several dealers for availibility and there out the door price.. Narrowed it down to 2 dealers.. One in my hometown and one about 50 miles away "Farro's in Columbus Oh..

The Columbus dealer was a full 2,000.00 more out the door then my own hometown dealer.. I asked it they would match the local dealer price and then sweeten the deal for a cash up front deal.

No way they said.. If fact they said my local dealership was de-valuing the Harley by selling it for the amount they were asking..

Local dealer has a good rep for bottom dollar price and attracts many from KY ... If they have avail models. You can guess where I purchased....

Dealership is holding a list of people looking for certain models... they also order specific models/ colors etc for customers who make a deposit.. Otherwise it's see what comes in...

Sales are slow and there seems to be a "glut" of Harleys in my local area.. No Waiting for most models if you are willing to pay the price.

Lastly, the 08 Anniversery appears to be a "flop" as a general sought after bike of choice... The Anniversery bikes are not moving too well in my area and the dealership asked me if I would be interested in a purchase if I could get it for the same price as a standard 08 Ultra.. (that was before negotionations) Nice of him to offer but as I view it all Anniversery models "time stamp" the bike and will only be sought after by collectors in the years to come.... I'd rather not be standing out.

Bike production will surely be slowing over the winter month but I doubt they will ever go back to the way things were in the early 90's

 

That's just business 101. When business slows, you have to cut back production to keep your inventory inline. That way you don't saturate the market, causing prices to fall. HD hasn't lasted over 100 years by being stupid.

 

I got on a list at 2 different HD shops in 95 for a ElectraGlide Standard....In mid-96 I finally broke down and bought a new Yamaha Royal Star as HD couldn't even tell me if I would get one in the next year. My 02 Dyna FXDX took about 14 months to get. My local dealer is an MSRP dealership, no add-on pricing, but they are also a small dealership, so if you want a specific model/color even now you have to wait for at least a couple months. New bikes are selling fast, the anniversary editions have all been spoken for since August.

After 5 years my Yamaha was worth barely 1/3 of what I paid, not counting the over 5k of accessories I added. At 5 years my Dyna's resale is still about 75% of what I paid. If HD is making a move to help keep the values up it won't bother me a bit.