Harley leaving town??

[Sleeperhawk]

I would kill for the Blue on Blue Canadian Venture. Why the H.E. double hockey sticks didn't they make that available in the US. Idiots!!

 

Guess they figure all Americans want is some color over black.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/gibvel/2010_XVZ1300TF_VPBC5_1.jpg

 

YUM!!!!

 

Is it just me or do they have the antennas on the wrong side?

 

 

Yeppers the CB antenna is on the wrong side, but you are right the color is great.

And the offer that god awful flame job in Canada too.

[SilvrT]

Is it just me or do they have the antennas on the wrong side?

 

From what I've heard, that, besides color changes, is one of the new features for 2010

[Flyinfool]

Is it just me or do they have the antennas on the wrong side?

 

That is to make the cassette deck work better.

[Wanderer]

That is to make the cassette deck work better.

 

Dem Canadians theenx of everthin, aye?

[az1103]

Well, If they manage to dump the union, the quality might go up......

Who knows maybe they will get back on my "worth looking at" list.

[MikeWa]

Briggs and Stratton moved to Mexico. Read that free trade with very low labor cost, no environmental concerns, no child labor laws, no B&O tax, no employee benefits what so ever and finally no tariffs to import the stuff back into the US. Why wouldn't they move? It called "free trade". Thank you Bill Clinton.

 

Here in the NW Harley might sell a few more bikes if the dealers would deal a little bit. But the won't move at all and that is too bad. Because it does cost them sales in a down economy. They will lay off scores of employees but they won't give up a single percentage point of mark-up. So if Harley sales are down perhaps they should look at their own organization.

[hoghead]

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/hog_harley-says-it-must-cut-54-million-in-local-manufacturing-costs-950086.html

 

Remember the Mercury Marine crisis a while back?

 

http://www.jsonline.com/business/50857847.html

 

hh

Edited May 2, 2010 by hoghead
added text

[ediddy]

I have no sympathy for harley. A succesful businessman told me years ago, "You never get too big to get your britches busted." When times are good you need to remain humble and give service. Most harley dealers, not all, were pricks that had the attitude they were doing you a favor to let you buy one of their bikes. Our local dealership is still marking up $2,500 over msrp. That's insane. They need to be humbled.

[hoghead]

I have no sympathy for harley. A succesful businessman told me years ago, "You never get too big to get your britches busted." When times are good you need to remain humble and give service. Most harley dealers, not all, were pricks that had the attitude they were doing you a favor to let you buy one of their bikes. Our local dealership is still marking up $2,500 over msrp. That's insane. They need to be humbled.

 

I agree. Local HD dealership has the same attitude as you have experienced. I spent 40 minutes drinking a cup of coffee and not one person acknowledge my presence. Had the money to buy anything there. Unbelievable.

 

There was a very interesting article concerning the Buell and it's demise in last months issue of Cycle World. HD has been taking a bath for quite sometime due to several Management decisions.

 

hh

[Wanderer]

 

EXACTLY what you last two guys said. That's what I was saying.

[CMIKE]

Maybe this will bring Harley prices down and make things more competative

I heard that company was gonna decrease production of thier bikes so folks would have to get on a waiting list to buy one...then they would get sticker price plus what ever they wanted to ask for them. Like they did several years ago. If I remember right...a used bike sometimes brought more than a new one...cause you could get the used one without haveing to wait 6 months to a year for it. So you folks who have them now...get ready to get top price for them.

 

Not me...

[hoghead]

I heard that company was gonna decrease production of thier bikes so folks would have to get on a waiting list to buy one...then they would get sticker price plus what ever they wanted to ask for them. Like they did several years ago. If I remember right...a used bike sometimes brought more than a new one...cause you could get the used one without haveing to wait 6 months to a year for it. So you folks who have them now...get ready to get top price for them.

 

Not me...

 

The Cycle World article touched on that. Then, a new CEO took charge and said build 500 thousand of them. Also stated "why are we selling sportbikes?" (Buell)

 

Add to that HD had a lot of money to loan. They financed everyone, good or bad. Talked with my Yamaha salesman and he said years ago he could not get financing for most customers but HD could. Even with a low credit score.

 

Everybody was going to ride a Harley! Not so. They have to cut production. No one is buying them.

 

During the first quarter of 2010, worldwide dealer retail sales of new Harley-Davidson motorcycles decreased 18.2 percent compared to the prior-year quarter. In the U.S., retail sales of new Harley-Davidson motorcycles declined 24.3 percent for the quarter and industry-wide heavyweight motorcycle (651cc-plus) retail unit sales declined 21.4 percent.

 

hh

Edited May 2, 2010 by hoghead
added text

[Freebird]

There's at least some truth to that. My nephew wanted a bike a couple of years ago. Tried to buy a VTX 1300 Honda and Honda Credit denied him. His credit really was bad. He then went to the Harley dealership. He ended up buying a used Harley that cost more than the new VTX that he was looking at. Was approved through Harley credit with no problem.

 

I know a year or so ago though that Harley Credit had to refinance a LOT of their debt and did so at a MUCH higher rate. Warren Buffet ended up financing about 300 or so million dollars of it at around 15% or so interest.

 

I just did a search and found some info on this:

http://www.my68flh.com/2009/02/04/harley-gets-600-million-bail-out/

[hoghead]

There's at least some truth to that. My nephew wanted a bike a couple of years ago. Tried to buy a VTX 1300 Honda and Honda Credit denied him. His credit really was bad. He then went to the Harley dealership. He ended up buying a used Harley that cost more than the new VTX that he was looking at. Was approved through Harley credit with no problem.

 

I know a year or so ago though that Harley Credit had to refinance a LOT of their debt and did so at a MUCH higher rate. Warren Buffet ended up financing about 300 or so million dollars of it at around 15% or so interest.

 

I just did a search and found some info on this:

http://www.my68flh.com/2009/02/04/harley-gets-600-million-bail-out/

 

Yup. Talked about that in the article. 15% is a good rate of return huh?

 

Harley-Davidson Financial Services, the consumer lending arm at Harley, needs about $1 billion in funding this year to continue providing new motorcycle loans to its customers. It also has a $500 million bank advance that’s due in March.

 

hh