Open Letter To Harley Davidson
#72
06-03-2018, 12:04 PM
No, it makes you a delivery boy who thinks he knows more than everyone else. Get over yourself.
I’ve said it before. The big surge in bike sales over the last 20 years, especially HD’s, has been the baby boomers buying their mid life crisis bikes, bikes when they were financially ready to (kids out of the house, house paid off, etc), and as their retirement presents.
The market is now trending back down. Not really that hard to see and correlate to generational age brackets.
I’ve said it before. The big surge in bike sales over the last 20 years, especially HD’s, has been the baby boomers buying their mid life crisis bikes, bikes when they were financially ready to (kids out of the house, house paid off, etc), and as their retirement presents.
The market is now trending back down. Not really that hard to see and correlate to generational age brackets.
[QUOTE=roussfam;17407853]
Originally Posted by CobraRacer
I took marketing in high school and I have a plan for that and a documentary "on the turn around of an American Legend" and I can probably get some Rock Stars involved.
Best post of the day!
I don't have the time to delve into a major debate over your marketing genius, but this caught me so off guard, I had to reply.
You were looking at a Breakout as a travel bike and you think the Moco is the problem here. In all of your vast education, someone should have taught you "the right tool for the job".
You were looking at a Breakout as a travel bike and you think the Moco is the problem here. In all of your vast education, someone should have taught you "the right tool for the job".
Last edited by ChickinOnaChain; 06-03-2018 at 07:56 PM.
#73
06-03-2018, 12:42 PM
Moderator
I don't want to dismiss the issues faced by the employees who will be affected by the closure. It is always tough to lose a job. But plant closings happen all the time. Always have. Always will. Ask Detroit, which is now a dilapidated ghost town. Its not just Harley. All the auto manufacturers do this. Plant closures are the nature of any manufacturing business. Products go out of style.Or taxes go up and a manufacturer moves operations to a locale offering a better deal. Or offshore manufacturers offer to assemble parts for a lot less. Not much you can do in the end.
#74
06-03-2018, 12:45 PM
Banned
#75
06-03-2018, 12:50 PM
If HD were to reduce supply, it would help to maintain prices or raise prices. But, they would also forfeit market share. It has always been a balancing act for Harley: dominate one niche, or try and be the "be all end all" motorcycle manufacturer. They chose the former. HD dominates the big displacement cruiser market. No one comes close. If Harley wants to attract more owners, they are going to have to step out of their niche and try and compete for demand from other types of motorcycle owners. The VRod was a failed attempt and the Street is their latest attempt.
Honestly. I think for HD to tap other markets, they are probably going to have to buy another brand that has an established line-up. That, or be an early entrant in a new market, like electric bikes. Right now, that market is wide open with only one serious provider: Zero.
#76
06-03-2018, 01:54 PM
Seasoned HDF Member
Weird how screwed up the USA has become.
There was a time, not all that long ago, when a man who thought he really and truly knew what the market needed...that he knew a better way of doing things...that he had a unique read on the pulse of the buying public and knew exactly how to build the proverbial "better mousetrap"...that man would set himself to making that better mousetrap, sell some, get a toe-hold in the market, attract some capital, grow the company, work his *** off, and eventually go on to become rich. Or not. Most such men fail. But that's ok. There is valor in the effort.
In America today, that man doesn't even consider that path. Instead, he thinks what he needs is to somehow get the attention of the very people who he is convinced are doing it wrong, and that somehow, by sheer force of his irresistible brilliance, they will adopt his ideas (naturally, they, not him, are the one's putting hundreds of millions of dollars at risk on his ideas) and a great bountiful harvest of money will fall from the trees.
What's particularly weird about all that, even more than the unlimited egotism it takes to think you can even do it, is that it has literally never happened. Ever. No one has ever shown up a some big company and said "Yes, I realize I have absolutely zero experience in your industry, but trust me. I can run this place better than you guys. Just put me in charge and get ready to carry buckets of cash to the bank!" and had them say "Damn! He's right! Put him in charge!!"
OP, if you think you know how to run a motorcycle company, that's good. Start one.
There was a time, not all that long ago, when a man who thought he really and truly knew what the market needed...that he knew a better way of doing things...that he had a unique read on the pulse of the buying public and knew exactly how to build the proverbial "better mousetrap"...that man would set himself to making that better mousetrap, sell some, get a toe-hold in the market, attract some capital, grow the company, work his *** off, and eventually go on to become rich. Or not. Most such men fail. But that's ok. There is valor in the effort.
In America today, that man doesn't even consider that path. Instead, he thinks what he needs is to somehow get the attention of the very people who he is convinced are doing it wrong, and that somehow, by sheer force of his irresistible brilliance, they will adopt his ideas (naturally, they, not him, are the one's putting hundreds of millions of dollars at risk on his ideas) and a great bountiful harvest of money will fall from the trees.
What's particularly weird about all that, even more than the unlimited egotism it takes to think you can even do it, is that it has literally never happened. Ever. No one has ever shown up a some big company and said "Yes, I realize I have absolutely zero experience in your industry, but trust me. I can run this place better than you guys. Just put me in charge and get ready to carry buckets of cash to the bank!" and had them say "Damn! He's right! Put him in charge!!"
OP, if you think you know how to run a motorcycle company, that's good. Start one.
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#77
06-03-2018, 02:17 PM
Weird how screwed up the USA has become.
There was a time, not all that long ago, when a man who thought he really and truly knew what the market needed...that he knew a better way of doing things...that he had a unique read on the pulse of the buying public and knew exactly how to build the proverbial "better mousetrap"...that man would set himself to making that better mousetrap, sell some, get a toe-hold in the market, attract some capital, grow the company, work his *** off, and eventually go on to become rich. Or not. Most such men fail. But that's ok. There is valor in the effort.
In America today, that man doesn't even consider that path. Instead, he thinks what he needs is to somehow get the attention of the very people who he is convinced are doing it wrong, and that somehow, by sheer force of his irresistible brilliance, they will adopt his ideas (naturally, they, not him, are the one's putting hundreds of millions of dollars at risk on his ideas) and a great bountiful harvest of money will fall from the trees.
What's particularly weird about all that, even more than the unlimited egotism it takes to think you can even do it, is that it has literally never happened. Ever. No one has ever shown up a some big company and said "Yes, I realize I have absolutely zero experience in your industry, but trust me. I can run this place better than you guys. Just put me in charge and get ready to carry buckets of cash to the bank!" and had them say "Damn! He's right! Put him in charge!!"
OP, if you think you know how to run a motorcycle company, that's good. Start one.
There was a time, not all that long ago, when a man who thought he really and truly knew what the market needed...that he knew a better way of doing things...that he had a unique read on the pulse of the buying public and knew exactly how to build the proverbial "better mousetrap"...that man would set himself to making that better mousetrap, sell some, get a toe-hold in the market, attract some capital, grow the company, work his *** off, and eventually go on to become rich. Or not. Most such men fail. But that's ok. There is valor in the effort.
In America today, that man doesn't even consider that path. Instead, he thinks what he needs is to somehow get the attention of the very people who he is convinced are doing it wrong, and that somehow, by sheer force of his irresistible brilliance, they will adopt his ideas (naturally, they, not him, are the one's putting hundreds of millions of dollars at risk on his ideas) and a great bountiful harvest of money will fall from the trees.
What's particularly weird about all that, even more than the unlimited egotism it takes to think you can even do it, is that it has literally never happened. Ever. No one has ever shown up a some big company and said "Yes, I realize I have absolutely zero experience in your industry, but trust me. I can run this place better than you guys. Just put me in charge and get ready to carry buckets of cash to the bank!" and had them say "Damn! He's right! Put him in charge!!"
OP, if you think you know how to run a motorcycle company, that's good. Start one.
Last edited by CobraRacer; 06-03-2018 at 02:24 PM.
#78
06-03-2018, 02:47 PM
Seasoned HDF Member
As I have said several times, this is the information I learned in my research that involved over 2,000 motorcycle riders and people working at the dealerships and the KC plant. While I have given my opinion, most of what I have been saying has been what I have learned in these discussions with over 2,000 people and comments of people on this forum. How exactly does that mean "I can run this place better than you guys"? What part of I can gather a "team" together means that "I can run this place better than you guys"? I never said hire me as the new CEO. There are people being hired monthly in a large corporation to run some department or be part of some team.
Without skin in the game, you're just another drunk telling everyone within ear shot how brilliant you are, from the stool, at the end of the bar.
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#79
06-03-2018, 02:54 PM
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