Sorry .............. not really Rushmore-related .................

I went to the IMS this past weekend in Minneapolis .......... a nice way to address some post-Polar Vortex cabin fever for a few hours.

I've attended several years and noticed that corporate HD was not present this time (a couple of local HD dealers filled the space). Not that I care, but I dont think Yamaha was there, either.


For those who attended in other locations, was the HD presence different this year ?

Just curious.

 

Harley pulled their demo rides out of Americade last year and they're not on the vendor list for this year either.

 

I went to that show too, and notice the same thing- No HD corporate presence, just a local dealer.

Overall I was less than impressed with the show. Compared to earlier shows it didn't seem to be missing a lot of participants.

Attendance was sparse as well, but that could be due to the SuperBore, and a competing RV show across town.

 

FWIW HD corporate had a nice big presence at the Cleveland show a couple of weeks ago along with a few local dealers.

 

I kind of wanted to go this year, but didn't have the time. I was hoping to see The Vanderhall trikes.Too bad if HD goes the way of Apple and doesn't do shows anymore.

 

Corporate was not in Dallas.

 

 

Yeah I was at the IMS show in Minneapolis on Sunday and no H-D presence. I was bummed. I looked at mostly custom bikes.

 

Sales are down. Corporate budgets get cut. I'd have to imagine that Harley asked for increased local dealer participation ($$$) and didn't get it at every location. Probably corporate gave the dealers local to the show a choice of A., B. or C. Depending on how the local dealers felt the show was beneficial (or not) determined how much money they wanted to throw at it. This in turn probably determined how much corporate participation there was; or wasn't.

 

Harley's profits are way down, so they are saving money. The old saying " when business is good you should advertise, when business is bad, you MUST advertise. Go figure.