Buell Motorcycle will be idling its East Troy plant during the months of November and December. During that time, employees will receive 8 days of paid vacation (and be essentially unemployed the rest of the time), but will retain their full medical benefits. The move by Buell isn’t all that uncommon for manufacturers who are experiencing a slow down in production, but surely sucks that “Happy Holidays” cheer out of the non-unionized shop.
Our day wouldn’t complete if we didn’t bring you gloom from all four of the Japanese manufacturers; and yes, even Yamaha wasn’t spared the wraith of the global economic slowdown. Yamaha Motor Corporation is reporting double-digit percentage sales drops in its two-wheeled and four-wheeled retail sales.
Yamaha said its U.S. motorcycle retail sales of 21,000 units is a 30% dip from last year’s numbers. Similarly, its U.S. ATV retail sales fell 26% to 17,000 units. This number is at least better than the ATV industry average of a 33% sales decrease. Overall for its worldwide operations, Yamaha reported a sales decline of 35.5% from the year-ago quarter, and a net loss of $189 million for its first quarter, which ended March 31.
Source: PowerSports Business