Episode 55 of the Brap Talk motorcycle podcast is out with another weekly episode, for your two-wheeled listening pleasure. The show has only three real topics, though it takes us nearly 2 hours to get through all of them.
After much, much talk and teasing, the Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 has finally debuted for the adventure-touring market. Much has been said and speculated about this ADV machine, but now it is finally all out in the open.
And what do we see? The bike holds its own on the spec-sheet, but the motorcycle shines the most on its pricing.
Hidden by talk of the Harley-Davidson “Hardwire” business plan, which seems like more business speak than actual business substance, we also have the American brand’s Q4 results from last year, as well as the yearly sales results from 2020.
If you need a two-word summary of those sales results, we will provide you with a “not good” response.
Harley-Davidson finished the year down 17.4% compared to the sales numbers of 2019, with Q4 2020 showing a 14% drop over the same time period last year.
As we get closer to the debut of the Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 for the 2021 model year, information about this adventure bike is making its way into Harley-Davidson’s various channels, which means it’s making its way into the ears of our Bothan spies.
First reported on the Brap Talk motorcycle podcast, our initial news is that the Pan America will debut at a fairly affordable price for the category, starting around the $17,000 mark.
With all the bells and whistles installed, the bike is still expected to be a sub-$20,000 machine, which makes it one of the more affordable luxury ADV bikes on the market.
Episode 46 of the Brap Talk motorcycle podcast is back with another weekly episode, for your two-wheeled listening pleasure.
In this episode, we took a little break from talking about the news that has happened in the motorcycle industry, and tried our hand at breaking some stories.
The long wait is nearly over, as the Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 will finally get its production debut on Monday, February 22nd, 2021 – the Bar & Shield brand tells us (they will “preview” the bike, yet again, on January 19th).
Accordingly, this date will end what will be an almost three-year tease and wait process from the American motorcycle company, as the first Pan America concept broke cover in July 2018.
Since that time, Harley-Davidson has “let go” of CEO Matthew Levatich, and swapped its “More Roads” plan for the current “Rewire” scheme that has seemingly killed many of the diverse models once announced by Harley-Davidson.
The ADV project remains though, if for no other reason than it was the furthest along in Harley-Davidson’s portfolio by the time that current CEO Jochen Zeitz came onboard.
That Harley-Davidson has been working on a small-displacement motorcycle for street rider is not a well-kept secret.
The project involves a collaboration with Chinese motorcycle manufacturer Qianjiang Motors, but the fruits of that labor have been slow to reveal themselves.
Like many of Harley-Davidson’s planned future models, the alleged “XR338” is at best MIA, and at worst DOA.
No one seems to know the next move from Harley-Davidson, including the Bar & Shield brand itself, which has been extremely terse about the details of its “Hardwire” business plan.
To help nudge them along the way, A&R contributor Michael Uhlarik has been working with Italian design show Engines Engineering (E&E) on an XR338 flat track concept for the street.
Harley-Davidson continues to hemorrhage motorcycle unit sales in 2020, with the Bar & Shield brand reporting an 8% loss worldwide on its third-quarter numbers.
This Q3 result means that Harley-Davidson is down 18% for the first nine months of the year, compared to the same point in time as last year.
The news isn’t all bad however, as Harley-Davidson is also reporting that the net income for the third-quarter was up 39% for a total of $120 million – the company’s highest Q3 income since 2015.
The second quarter sales results for Harley-Davidson are in, and once again the American brand is seen floundering with its sales, not only in the United States, but also abroad.
For Q2 2020, Harley- Davidson sees its American sales dropping by 27% compared to Q2 2019 – the same can be said of Harley-Davidson’s worldwide sales for the same time period, which fell by the same percentage.
Added to the already lackluster results from the first quarter of the year, Harley-Davidson sales have sunk 22% for the first-half of the year, with worldwide sales diving 23% so far this year, compared to last.
Harley-Davidson has taken another step forward with its “Rewire” plan, as CEO Jochen Zeitz is set to cut 700 jobs from the company worldwide, with 500 employees expected to be cut by the end of the year.
As a result of this news, the company’s current CFO, John Olin, is stepping down from his role effective immediately, thus ending his 17-year tenure at the Bar & Shield brand.
Replacing Olin as the interim-CFO at Harley-Davidson is Treasurer Darrell Thomas, who will hold the spot while the motorcycle manufacturer looks for a more permanent replacement.
Some motorcycle news from Wall Street, as we get word that Harley-Davidson will be removed from the S&P 500 list effective June 22nd.
A key index for a snapshot on the state of the American business landscape, the S&P 500 gets its name because it measures the stock performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States.