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Harley-Davidson Sales Continued to Disappear in 2019

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The yearly results for Harley-Davidson are out, and once again they paint a dark figure for the iconic American motorcycle brand, as its total worldwide sales collapsed like a dying star, with a decline of 4.3% to bring the company to a  total of 218,273 units sold worldwide.

Things were worse in the domestic market, with Harley-Davidson’s sales in the USA showing a 5.2% drop (125,960 units) from 2018’s figures.

This leaves the Bar & Shield brand’s international sales down an even 3% (92,313 units) – for those doing the math.

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News

BMW Motorrad Sets All-Time Sales Record for 2019

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Good news from the Bavarians, as BMW Motorrad reports that 2019 was the company’s best sales year…ever (again).

According to the German company’s tallies, BMW Motorrad sold 175,162 motorcycles and scooters last year, a bump of 5.8% over the figures from 2018 (165,566 units).

As expected, Germany remains the primary market for BMW Motorrad, with 26,292 units sold last year (up 10.4% from 2018). Crunching the math further, Germany accounts for roughly 15% of BMW’s two-wheeled sales.

The rest of Europe was strong for BMW Motorrad as well, with the European market up 7% overall for BMW – France (17,300 units), Italy (15,580 units), Spain (12,607 units) and the Great Britain/Ireland (9,611 units).

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News

Ducati Sales Flat Worldwide, But Down 2% in the USA

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While news of the Ducati Superleggera V4 is breaking the internet right now, other headlines are also coming out of Bologna, as Ducati has released its 2019 sales figures.

Tallying a total of 53,183 motorcycles delivered to customers worldwide, Ducati managed to beat the 53,004 units from 2018 – an increase of 0.34% in worldwide sales, for those who are counting.

Holding that figure back though was the brand’s progress in the United States, with the American market dropping close to 2% compared to last year, with 7,682 motorcycles sold last year.

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News

US Motorcycle Sales Were Flat for 2019, And Other Bad News

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Official data on the US motorcycle industry for 2019 isn’t out yet, but Asphalt & Rubber has seen preliminary numbers, encompassing the first 11 months of the year on new motorcycle sales, and those numbers show that the USA continues to have essentially zero growth.

According to the documents supplied to us by our Bothan spies, from January to November of 2019, the US motorcycle industry grew a whooping 0.1%, with most of the major brands posting moderate single-digit losses for the year on new bike sales.

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News

Honda Just Built Its 400 Millionth Motorcycle

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While we wait for the New Year and ponder what has occurred in the last 365 days, the folks at Honda certainly have a milestone to remember 2019 by – this was the year that they built their 400 millionth motorcycle. That’s a lot.

This marker comes in Honda’s 70th year of making motorcycles (the Honda Dream D-Type went on sale in 1949), and it is an astounding achievement for the Japanese brand.

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News

Motorcycles Sales in Europe Have Grown 9% So Far This Year

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While motorcycles sales in the United States continue to slip, sales in Europe continue to grow. I use that line almost every time I write about this subject – largely because it’s the truth.

The fact is that there is a fundamental difference about what is going on in the European markets versus what is going on here in the United States, and it shows in the sale data.

Reporting on the first half of the year so far, the European Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers (ACEM) says that the European motorcycle market is up 9.1%, compared to the first-half of 2018.

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Piaggio Group Reports Unit Sales Up 5.9% So Far This Year

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While the rest of the industry walks on pins and needles, the Piaggio Group is celebrating a strong first-half to the 2019 sales year, with overall unit sales up 9.2%.

That number isn’t just all Vespa scooters though (however, the Italian brand does sell quite a few of those), as Piaggio reports that its motorcycle sales saw a 14% bump in gross revenue.

The Italian conglomerate pegs the new Moto Guzzi V85 TT for the sales boom over last year, which is quite a feat since 2018 was a strong year for the Piaggio Group as well.

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News

Harley-Davidson Sales Slip & Fall 8% in Q2 2019

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Sales continue to slip and fall for Harley-Davidson, as we see from the company’s second-quarter earnings report, which was was released today. Worldwide, the Bar & Shield brand saw an 8% drop in Q2 sales for 2019, when compared to Q2 2018.

This breaks down to an 8% drop in sales for the United States, with international sales showing a similar decline of 8.9%. For comparison, the relevant heavyweight motorcycle industry was down 4.9% in the USA during the same time periods.

On the dollar side of the equation, Harley-Davidson reported a net income of $195.6 million earned, from a consolidated revenue of $1.63 billion in Q2 2019.

This is nearly a 20% drop in net income, when compared to the $242.3 million that Harley-Davidson made on the $1.71 billion in consolidated revenue in Q2 2018.

This news continues an obvious trend for Harley-Davidson, as its sales continue to shrink each year, which is affecting the company’s bottom line earnings.

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Bikes

This is How MV Agusta Made Over €20 Million in Just a Few Days

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More sales news today, as we get word from MV Agusta that they have sold out their Brutale 1000 Serie Oro and Superveloce 800 Serie Oro motorcycles.

Both of the Serie Oro models were limited to a production run of just 300 units each, which is a pretty common way for the Italian brand to launch new models, and we can expect more obtainable “normal” versions of these two bikes to be ready for next year.

While the volume of 300 units isn’t a terribly large or surprising number, one should remember the substantial price tags that come attached to these machines. The MV Agusta Superveloce 800 Serie Oro goes for €28,000 MSRP, while the MV Agusta Brutale 1000 Serie Oro astounds with its €43,000 MSRP.

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Bikes

Yamaha Hopes to Sell 2,700 YZF-R1 Motorcycles in Europe Next Year

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Just last week, Yamaha unveiled the latest iteration of its YZF-R1 superbike, which sees a number of updates coming to the original liter-bike for the 2020 model year.

The machine is more evolution than revolution, and if we are really honest, the 2020 Yamaha YZF-R1 is really a refresh to keep the folks at Iwata relevant in the big-displacement sport bike category.

As such, we see changes coming to the bike’s cylinder head, airbox, and bodywork, along with updates to the software and suspension.

All of this is to ensure that the Yamaha YZF-R1 is inline with what is being offered by other brands in the superbike space.

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News

Ducati First Quarter 2019 Sales Up 5% Worldwide

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The 2019 model year is looking good for Ducati, with the Italian brand reporting a 5% sales increase in the first quarter of this year, over the same time period in 2018.

In total, Ducati sold 12,541 motorcycles in Q1 2019, compared to the 11,949 units it moved in Q1 2018, with most segments from the Italian manufacturer showing growth.

That growth was highlighted with strong sales for Hypermotard 950, though it is bookended with the superbike segment, which saw a noticeable drop (13.5%) at the start of this year.

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