Can't build enough high end bikes?

[Playinthestreet]

An interesting article...
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Harley-struggles-to-make-apf-3239817887.html?x=0

[stromgal]

This line made me chuckle:

Harley, which makes motorcycles ranging from $8,000 sport bikes to custom touring models that can start at more than $30,000

The Motor Company makes a sport bike?  Sign me up!!  

[Rincewind]

That line made me laugh, too.  

This production problem was brought on by themselves for laying off so many workers in York.  Sure it made them show a profit temporarily, but did it help long term?  Especially as that is where they make their money-maker bikes?  Did it help when they threatened the York workers with lost jobs and moving the plants to Kentucky in order to get their way?  I live 45mins from York and I'm none too impressed by Harley's treatment of their workers.

[Orson]

This line made me chuckle:


The Motor Company makes a sport bike?  Sign me up!!  

 

[Playinthestreet]

That line made me laugh, too.  

This production problem was brought on by themselves for laying off so many workers in York.  Sure it made them show a profit temporarily, but did it help long term?  Especially as that is where they make their money-maker bikes?  Did it help when they threatened the York workers with lost jobs and moving the plants to Kentucky in order to get their way?  I live 45mins from York and I'm none too impressed by Harley's treatment of their workers.

This is no defense of H-D, but would you expect anything else given the marketplace the last 3 years?  

[Rincewind]

This is no defense of H-D, but would you expect anything else given the marketplace the last 3 years?  

Are other manufacturers doing the same thing?  I can think of Honda shutting down their Ohio plant, but that was planned for years.  What other manufacturers threaten to shut down their gold mine factories to strong arm unions?  Which ones have shut down entire branches like happened to Buell?  It looks to me like HD has recently made a number of changes just for short term goals.

[Playinthestreet]

How many times should Harley save Eric Buell from himself?  Chrylser eliminated Plymouth.  GM Pontiac and Oldsmobile. Ford Mercury. Why did Toyota move production from CA to San Antonio?  Has been happening for 30 years.  

[Rincewind]

How many times should Harley save Eric Buell from himself?  Chrylser eliminated Plymouth.  GM Pontiac and Oldsmobile. Ford Mercury. Why did Toyota move production from CA to San Antonio?  Has been happening for 30 years.  

You are right - it is much more common with car manufacturers to act that way.  My questions were referring to bike manufacturers.   

Imagine if HD had actually shut-down the York plant and relocated to KY.  I imagine their production lull would have be much worse.

[Playinthestreet]

Surely H-D would have incurred significant one-time direct costs and, I suspect, loss of revenue as well.  Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac, WI played the same hard-ball game about 2yrs ago with Fond du Lac vs a location in Oklahoma.  

In the grand scheme of the economy, we motorcyclists in the US don't count for much.

[BobW]

I think there is a difference in what Rincewind is pointing out with them threatening "the goose that lays the golden eggs" to break the relatively new to HD union influence, compared to Mercury or Olds, etc. It would be more like Ford shutting down the F150 production IMO. Regardless, the people that flooded/skewed their P&L numbers via tons of bad paper and creative sales numbers (left the factory VS actual sales) were the real problem. They took easy slash and burn measures to get Buffet's and Stimulus $ rather being able to survive by being conservative and having a good war chest from all the very, very, very good years. Their collective arrogance is much the same as the GM, et al Boards. There is plenty of greed at all levels to "blame", but I refuse to believe the workers drove the ship into the rocks.

Cheers

[Playinthestreet]

I don't think "workers drove the ships on the rocks" has anything to do with the original post.  They wrote bad paper and suffered sales declines.  They laid off workers.  The market seems to be coming back, for them, and they're in a squeeze.  I'm glad to see sales are improving.  

Or....

let's just turn it into a Harley bashing thread

[stromgal]

Or....

let's just turn it into a Harley bashing thread

 

I don't think Harley 'save(d) Eric Buell from himself'.  From everything I've read, they in fact impeded his design and marketing plans any number of times.

I want HD to succeed. But I agree that they got fat and lazy when times were good instead of planning for the future of the company.  There must have been some at headquarters who worried about the loan policies and the aging of the core consumer.

[veefer800canuck]

 

AND they're from JAPAN, go figure!  

http://www.sundance.co.jp/gallery/s_xr_tt/s-xr-tt.html

[veefer800canuck]

Oh yeah, now I remember those crazy guys from the land of the rising sun:



The Daytona Weapon!  

[Orson]

I think I remember reading a Willie G. interview long ago where he wuz asked "why no sport bike?"

his answer was sumthin along the lines of "their core consumers wouldn't stand for it"  

How cool would it be if Buells had been labeled Harley Davidsons instead?

I respect Eric Buell's work, but "Buell" just doesn't have the same cache as "Norton" or "Harley Davidson"  

[Playinthestreet]

 

I don't think Harley 'save(d) Eric Buell from himself'.  From everything I've read, they in fact impeded his design and marketing plans any number of times.

I want HD to succeed. But I agree that they got fat and lazy when times were good instead of planning for the future of the company.  There must have been some at headquarters who worried about the loan policies and the aging of the core consumer.

He was plenty willing to take their cash for 30 years.

[coho]

Oh yeah, now I remember those crazy guys from the land of the rising sun:



The Daytona Weapon!  

ManTanTM or just a very tan man?

[Playinthestreet]

Springer... too much time outside

[falconati]

Experts on Everything  

[stromgal]

I took part in a marketing study for the 'new' Indian. IF they make one or two of the models they were testing, it could be something different for the cruiser class. Dunno about pricing, 'though I'd guess they'll be in HD territory.