Big-D
Well-known member
Read an article today in my little poor excuse for a newspaper titles “Motorcycle makers hitting the Brakes”. This article came from the L.A. Times and stated motorcycle sales have really taken a dump. Taking the hardest hit were Sport bikes and Cruisers. Scooters sales that climbed last year because of their fuel economy have since fallen also. Although sales figures by individual manufacturers are kept secret, overall numbers show a 37.2% for this current quarter and last quarter fell 53.5% when compared to last years sales. Don Brown, an analyst from Irvine, California said the old “Lets get out there and sell more” just doesn’t work any longer, stating that “people just don’t have the money anymore”.
Harley did report that their earnings have dropped 84% overall from last year, which explains their decision to drop Buell and MV Agusta and get completely out of the Sport bike business. But then, I don’t think I would ever pay upwards of $30k for a Harley. This year, Harley, Kawasaki, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Victory have reported lay-offs of employees and price reductions on their current inventory to help dealerships shrink swollen inventories.
When you shop for a new car, you see the price applied by the factory, then you see any accessories added and freight, which is usually about $500 on an automobile. But when you shop for a bike, you see the price (i.e. 2010 FJR $15,190), then the dealers add Tax, Freight, Dealer Prep, Dealer Title Fee, Set-up and any other fee or charge they can come up with that will undoubtedly add anywhere from $1000 to $3500 or more to the cost of a new motorcycle. Just like cars, the dealers profit is included in the factory sales price, so the rest is all gravy that causes many people to say “screw-it”, bikes are too expensive. The dealers can easily be their own worst enemy when it comes to reduction in sales figures or the possible loss of their business all together. Greed will always come back and bite you in the ***! When was the last time you saw motorcycle manufacturers offer “Zero” interest for the life of the loan. Usually they make some simple offer hoping someone will be a day late on their payment so they can up their interest rate to a default rate of 28.99%.
Harley did report that their earnings have dropped 84% overall from last year, which explains their decision to drop Buell and MV Agusta and get completely out of the Sport bike business. But then, I don’t think I would ever pay upwards of $30k for a Harley. This year, Harley, Kawasaki, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Victory have reported lay-offs of employees and price reductions on their current inventory to help dealerships shrink swollen inventories.
When you shop for a new car, you see the price applied by the factory, then you see any accessories added and freight, which is usually about $500 on an automobile. But when you shop for a bike, you see the price (i.e. 2010 FJR $15,190), then the dealers add Tax, Freight, Dealer Prep, Dealer Title Fee, Set-up and any other fee or charge they can come up with that will undoubtedly add anywhere from $1000 to $3500 or more to the cost of a new motorcycle. Just like cars, the dealers profit is included in the factory sales price, so the rest is all gravy that causes many people to say “screw-it”, bikes are too expensive. The dealers can easily be their own worst enemy when it comes to reduction in sales figures or the possible loss of their business all together. Greed will always come back and bite you in the ***! When was the last time you saw motorcycle manufacturers offer “Zero” interest for the life of the loan. Usually they make some simple offer hoping someone will be a day late on their payment so they can up their interest rate to a default rate of 28.99%.
