I was at the IMS show this weekend and I was impressed with the number of people at the show, many wearing Harley-Davidson shirt, jackets, and hats. In this tough economy, I was expecting the crowd to be smaller. I was also amazed with the number of people at the Harley-Davidson booth, checking out the of new bikes, features, paint schemes, etc... It often took several minutes to get up close to some of the new bikes and nearly impossible to talk a Harley-Davidson representative to ask a question. Compared to the other manufacturer's booths (Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Victory, etc...), the Harley-Davidson booth seemed to be the place attendees went first and stayed the longest. With the popularity of Harley-Davidson motorcycles so high, why are sales of new bikes so low and what can the motor company do about it?
Part of the decline in sales is due to unemployed people not having discretionary income for big ticket items.
Part of the iconic labeling has a downside. If they don`t change much why buy a new one ? In many instances the older models are more desirable. The Moco becomes a victim of its own strong brand recognition. How often do you need a new Rolls Royce ?
The massive sales expansion was built on super loose liberal credit. The $600 million that they recently raised will be used to open up consumer financing and it should help. It just won`t be subprime credit.
They need to study the British motorcycle industry and whatever the Brits did don`t do it.
Things are strange Wrightturn.
The last several seasons most of the HD dealerships in Western Canada were sold out of bikes come early summer. In June of aught 7 I had the pleasure of visiting some western states on a ride to Nevada and noticed that all dealers I visited had a showroom full of scooters. My brother had ordered a Street Glide in late winter and he couldn't take delivery until late Sept, here in Alberta that is darn near winter. He tried buying one in Las Vegas off the showroom floor that same June, (choices: one now in the desert sun or one in the Canadian fall) and was refused because he was from Canada. "So what" he said, "I brought US dollars and I'd like to buy that scooter from you". It didn't work, and I'm sure that bike sat there the rest of the year and now HD can't sell what they have. I'm thinking that these dealers up here will not be selling near as many scooters as they have in the past, hard times in the lands of plenty.
Wrightturn, I'm sure you're right. I was talking with a friend last night at the bowling alley and he said he felt the market was saturated. He added that many of us middle aged riders have our bikes and plan to ride them for a while. At the IMS, I noticed several manufacturers and vendors with Trikes on display, including Harley-Davidson. I think this is an attempt to extend the number of years of the older riders. I also noticed that Harley-Davidson expanded the Sportster line-up. I think this is an attempt to encourage women and younger riders to take-up the sport. As an incentive, with gas prices raising again, our brothers and sisters might park the SUVs and put some miles on their scoots.
Tommy, that's a strange story about your brother. I know the Street Glide is a popular bike, but if a dealer has a customer with cash, I would think they would want to sell him a bike. I'm sure there's a little hassle with getting the bike licensed and dealing with taxes, but so what, a customer is a customer.
Otis,
That's kind of what we thought, they would want to sell a bike. However the salesman could not be bothered, unless a wee little bit of red tape wasn't worth his time.
What is it that you ride, Otis_fmly?
One of the MAIN reasons the stealers are reluctant to sell their bikes to "out of towners" (incld'g US buyers) is because every bike they sell is thought of as potential $$$$$$ profits from service & parts,accessories,clothing, future trade-ins & sales,etc (their real bread & butter) over the LONG term and they'd prefer to sell to locals rather than lose that to the "out of towners" local stealership...noting that they only get so many units allocated per year and everyone sold to an "out of towner" is also one less they can sell to a local.
__________________ "If at first you don't succeed, try again...then swear"
Mark Twain
Tommy,
I ride a H-D 07 Road King Classic. I've owned Dynas and then two years ago, I purchased the Road King. It's been a great bike and I wouldn't trade it for anything. While at the IMS, I had a chance to look over the new touring bikes. I'm like with the new frame and the 180 rear tire on the touring models, but I think I'll keep mine.
Harley-Davidson at the IMS Show 
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