This ain't good news. People. No matter how bad you think the "stealer" cheated you. What if the "stealer" ain't there. Then whatcha goin do? I ain't going into name calling. You know who you are. I just hate to see anyone lose their job.

 

Grab my wrench and go to war! But on a serious note its definetly not good but im pretty sure they will bounce back. My "stealership" is actually expanding and hiring more people.

 

Like I tried to say in another part of this discombobulated forum. It ain't all about you. Back in the day it was about Brotherhood. If one brother went down all was affected. If one Harley dealership goes down no matter where. That affects me. But, I am just a dinosaur. My old *** opinion don't count for ****.

 

Yeah....it's a bad deal.

Funny thing is, the dealer's don't seem to be lowering their prices at all.

They're trying to keep them where they're at, and lower production instead.

If they lowered their prices, they would sell more bikes and everybody would still be workin' and cranking out bikes like crazy.

Seems to be that if you lower prices, and sell more, you will make more money by the sheer volume of sales going up. It would more than make up for the lower cost.

I think they feel that the high prices makes a H/D more exclusive......hope it doesn't make them extinct.

I Love Harley-Davidsons.....but I PERSONALLY think their management sucks.

~Joe

 

if they ARE a "stealership" let them go under...... support the dealerships that give us a fair return...

 

Seems like the vibe I am getting is look out for yourself. Screw everyone else. And I ain't talking about the dealers.

 

No its bad news when any business looses that many employees and money. Been self employed in business most my life. Seen a whole lot Mom & Pops go under, and big companys like Buick in Flint, go down. It doesn't matter if its Harley, GM, Honda, Ford, Yamaha, Chrysler, we need all to stay afloat. Compitition creats jobs, and help's produce better products. Just my 2 cents. Later-

 

The Harley market is gluted with new and used bikes. If they lower the price and sell more it would just glut the market even worse which would put more and more pressure new and used prices. Cheap used HD bikes have already taken many sales from the dealers. GM and Ford did lower prices and increase production and got a short term gain a few years ago. Now they have to pay the price.

The real problem with HD is bikes can only be consumed so fast. There are only so many riders out there to buy bikes. The market needs more riders or less bikes to balance out.

 

HD did NOT have a 60% loss in the 4th qtr.
They just didn't make as much as same period last year.
Read the article again. Yes, the 1100 people losing their jobs is bad news though.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Top US motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson said Friday it would slash 1,100 jobs and production capacity as profits tumbled following reduced sales amid a deepening recession.
The job cuts will be made over two years.
"We obviously need to make adjustments to address the current volume declines," said Harley-Davidson's chief executive Jim Ziemer. "But we are also determined to do that in a way that will make us more competitive for the long term."

The Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based company suffered a 58 percent reduction in profit to 77.8 million dollars for the final quarter of 2008 from the same period a year earlier.

Worldwide retail sales of the iconic motorcycle maker fell 13.1 percent while domestic sales were down 19.6 percent.
For the full-year 2008, net profit fell 30 percent to 654.7 million dollars and sales dropped 2.0 percent to 5.6 billion dollars.
"We reduced our production levels prudently in 2008, helping our dealers achieve lower inventory levels," said Ziemer, "and we're going to show similar discipline in 2009."

 

It reminds me of what the pointy-haired boss in the "Dilbert" comic strip said: "People are our most valuable asset -- lay a few of them off, and it pops the stock price right up."