You can use several cliche phrases for what it appears Harley is doing at the moment. But probably the most descriptive one is to "kick the can" farther down the road. Basically they are stimulating demand by offering generous trade-ins. Some would say crazy trade-in prices on older Harleys. So as another poster said, now the new buyer takes an even bigger loan out with H-D financial (still low rates though). Potentially more profit if they make the payments, or an even bigger loss if they default. In the case of default they have the trade-in which they paid too much for and the repo bike to get rid of.
It seems Harley is hoping that things will turn around before their losses become too big to hide or gloss over. Perhaps they are also hoping for a bailout if things get more hairy. I think they are wrong on both counts.
Just looking at their actions in the past few months, they appear much more desperate than they let on. H-D might be a company that is making a profit..making a profit...making a profit...then BAM starts losing barrels of money. It might be surprising how quickly a company can go under in this scenario, just a few quarters of losses is not unheard of in companies the size of H-D. Not unlike GE, their finance arm is dragging them down. Don't be surprised if they try to split the financial services off from manufacturing, but that might be impossible.
If they were private they could have built a huge war chest to tide them over through the bad times. But being public I wonder how many billions they have paid out in dividends in the past decade to shareholders in pulling demand forward through bike loans to unqualified buyers and low rates.
It is for all of these reasons I stated in the 1200cc Buell thread that IMO it is 50/50 they go through a bankruptcy in the next five years. That doesn't mean they will cease to exist, but common shareholders would get screwed.
According to an internal source, Suzuki will import no GSX-Rs or other streetbikes into the American market for 2010 as the unsold 2009 models on dealer floors are expected to satisfy demand. Overall, US motorcycle sales through the first three quarters of this year total just 434,370 compared to 771,950 during the same period last year, a drop of 44 percent. Suzuki has announced no new street models for the 2010 model year. We were unable to reach Suzuki for an official comment, but word has it 2010 models are available for order should dealer stocks unexpectedly be diminished.
I know on 10/15 when Harley killed Buell they gave lip service to supporting the brand for years. This is a federal requirement IIRC.But for those that bought that line of bull, it appears as though Harley financial won't even loan money to qualified buyers of the leftover Buells if this thread is true...Buell 1125R Motorcycle Forum - This just in...... - BadWeB I think not...
According to an internal source, Suzuki will import no GSX-Rs or other streetbikes into the American market for 2010 as the unsold 2009 models on dealer floors are expected to satisfy demand. Overall, US motorcycle sales through the first three quarters of this year total just 434,370 compared to 771,950 during the same period last year, a drop of 44 percent. Suzuki has announced no new street models for the 2010 model year. We were unable to reach Suzuki for an official comment, but word has it 2010 models are available for order should dealer stocks unexpectedly be diminished.
I think I read Yamaha was planning on delaying the new dirtbikes but were gonna run into homologation issues if they did. Stewart is gonna run the new 2010 bike but they wouldn't have 400 units in the States if they held them back. Honda looks kinda smart for blowing out all their old units and at least trying to get some 2010's on the floors.
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Originally Posted by mrgrn
why don'y you do yourself a favor and put me on ignore
According to an internal source, Suzuki will import no GSX-Rs or other streetbikes into the American market for 2010 as the unsold 2009 models on dealer floors are expected to satisfy demand. Overall, US motorcycle sales through the first three quarters of this year total just 434,370 compared to 771,950 during the same period last year, a drop of 44 percent. Suzuki has announced no new street models for the 2010 model year. We were unable to reach Suzuki for an official comment, but word has it 2010 models are available for order should dealer stocks unexpectedly be diminished.
Looking at Suzuki's site they only have 2009 models listed.Just seems kind of creepy to not have anything new from such a major manufacturer. I wonder if '33 was the same way...
Just looking at their actions in the past few months, they appear much more desperate than they let on. H-D might be a company that is making a profit..making a profit...making a profit...then BAM starts losing barrels of money. It might be surprising how quickly a company can go under in this scenario, just a few quarters of losses is not unheard of in companies the size of H-D. Not unlike GE, their finance arm is dragging them down. Don't be surprised if they try to split the financial services off from manufacturing, but that might be impossible.
The mortgage crisis on a smaller scale. Let's see if there's some outfit stupid enough to buy all that bad debt. I think they'll be left out to dry and it'll take 10 years of re financing that debt for their self dug hole to get out of it. They'll logically petition the gubment for relief and possibly will get a bone tossed to them in the form of some tax reduction for a couple years.
And we haven't seen the bottom of this economy yet.
*Note to any perspective bike buyers:
Get them now when money is cheap and before inflation kicks in.
Also, they've (Suzuki) realized the currency hit on their books for the units rotting in the warehouses. Why would they ship MORE bikes here when the USD was absolutely worthless? They can't raise the prices to offset the worthless dollar? Two years ago, they could sell a $10k bike and it would bring back JPY 1,080,000. Now they sell a $10k bike and brings home JPY 889,000. They are bringing home 17% less Yen for every bike sold in the US. Why bother?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrgrn
why don'y you do yourself a favor and put me on ignore
According to an internal source, Suzuki will import no GSX-Rs or other streetbikes into the American market for 2010 as the unsold 2009 models on dealer floors are expected to satisfy demand. Overall, US motorcycle sales through the first three quarters of this year total just 434,370 compared to 771,950 during the same period last year, a drop of 44 percent. Suzuki has announced no new street models for the 2010 model year. We were unable to reach Suzuki for an official comment, but word has it 2010 models are available for order should dealer stocks unexpectedly be diminished.
That's exactly what they did in Italy in 2009: no current MY models because 2008 models were still piled up in the warehouses. Judging from sales data they must still be there.
Well even the bug eyed Yamaha looks far better than a gixxer in my opinion, the CBR1000 too. Suzuki had not a great design in a long time for my tastes and the only interesting bike is the 750 and only for the engine since the asthetics are no different.
I always hate those types of graphs where they do not start at zero to make the drop seem even more dramatic. The capital market blog The Market Ticker does this all the time.-27% is bad obviously, but what is it in the US, -40%?
Why bother?
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