| Author | Message | ||
     Black |
http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/17/harley-davidson-c ommoditization-leadership-managing-competition.htm l The writer is a professor. He confuses displacement with horsepower...(That has never happened before!)....but he provides an interesting analysis of how he thinks Harley has gotten into its present predicament.....and no mention of Buell or MV Agusta. Food for thought anyway. | ||
| Sparky |
I think what the good professor means is that the foreign bikes make more power when displacements are equal. Regardless, Harley's executives should go back to school and take lessons from this professor. | ||
| Black |
Thanks Sparky! | ||
| Fast2win |
I now as of late everybody here hates HD but hole can be blown all over this guys theory. Sales weren't HD's main problem the lower sales with economic conditions can be explained. HD financial is where they lost all their money by a large margin. Big dog a competitor is a joke as a threat to HD, and Victory is a better option doesn't yet offer the product mix. | ||
| Toecutter |
I agree Fast2win. H-D has lost some market share to their competitors, and they have had a serious downturn in production due to the economy, but it was H-D Finance that really killed them. | ||
| Black |
I don't think Harley is killed. I do think they are attempting to do the same things that made a lot of money for them in the eighties and nineties.....but don't understand that times are changing. The Japanese Big Four are making lots of Harley lookalike motorcycles that are very reliable and a lot cheaper. Harley dumped the whole sport tourer market by dropping Buell. They also dropped Buell, just when Buell was poised to compete with the Japanese sport bike demographic. I think that the losses to their financial wing, made things that were going to happen to Harley anyway, happen a lot sooner. Their solution of doing what they have always done....over again, doesn't bode well for anybody. | ||
| Rightpecial |
I like HD bikes, but I don't understand what they are thinking as a corporation. They are the Uncle Rico of the motorcycle world; always looking back. | ||
| Fast2win |
Most of the jap cruisers that are cheaper look and feel it the ones that are at or near HD price range look to me to failures for the most part, they sit on showrooms for years. Not that their bad bikes but most people when priced the same are gonna choose a HD. As for Buell my dream would have them to have had a line up like BMW in 10yrs no cruisers but all the other bikes. stuff HD lacks. Could you imagine a R/T like sport tourer with Rotax eng. A new blast with a rotax single bla bla etc etc. | ||
| P47b |
Big dog is almost a ghost town now. I think they are down to 19 employees. Just building what is in stock. Just 5 years ago they were talk about expanding to double the size. Coleman needs to expand the bike lineup. But he's hard headed and won’t leave the chopper sales. | ||
| Black |
I decided to see what I could find out about the relaunch of Indian. Looks like they have a respectable number of dealerships starting up. Will be interesting to see what happens. When I did a search for "Indian", tons of things popped up about the Japanese Big Four either manufacturing or increasing their sales in India. Looks like Harley may have its work cut out for itself in the subcontinent. Looks live everybody had the same idea except..... they are concentrating on lower priced machines.... |
