I agree an disagree with both your points of view. Its obviously true that harley davidson sales are slumping and old money is dying, but a great deal of harley davidson profit comes from accessories, not just for the bike but from sales of pretty much everything, from HD lighters, vests, sunglasses, jackets, hell Id be surprised if harley doesn't market HD toilet paper and tampons. They have been very clever at marketing the HD brand as a lifestyle, and this formula has worked for them very well in the last couple of decades. They have made a huge effort to grab a share of the Euro market and the youth market, this is evident in there new bikes such as there dirt track knock off, which is oddly only available in europe, and there new streetfighters. Even the Vrod was an effort from HD to meet better Euro emmissions. A lot of this is of course due to the japanese brands eating away at there market, 15 years ago HD owned more then half of the US market, but the japs have slowly eaten away HD'S lead.
Polaris/victory is not fairing that well, I know a few of the designers there as well as the VP of design and they have recently out sourced much of there design for new products to freelancers. This IMO usually means that the company is speculating on new product, but are not willing to invest in producing new product. The sales of polaris and victory product is way down, the only real profit they made this year was on there side by side. Victory's big ticket items like there tourer are not selling very well at all.
Many companies have tried to enter the cruiser market an have been unsuccessful, BMW is a prime example of this. There cruiser was unique, completely different from anything out there an was marginally successful, yet was discontinued. Recently BMW's manageing director was asked if a new cruiser was on the horizon, and the answer was no not until they have something unique, and desirable. The focus for many of the companies currently is on the youth market, the last five years or so most of the companies have been trying to develope very user friendly entry level bikes and scooters.
Power cruisers are a very hard sell, from my understanding, they are a niche market that hovers between Boulivardiers and sportsters. I know this bc I did a lot of research on a power cruiser project for a jap company which I will not name, but they pretty much scrapped the project before I drew a single pic.
Guzzi, from what I have been told, relies and has relied on sales to the government. They provide twin cyl engines for unmaned airplanes, and have produced many bikes for the police and military. not bad for a engine made for a tractor, I am not sure what there current situation is, probably not good.
Jap companies are not fairing so well either, Honda recently closed down one of there euro studio's for both cars and RV, Suzuki has abandoned there CA studio, Yamaha is smart in that they dont have there own motorcycle design studio, they rely mostly on a firm called GKDI.
As far as Jap companies having there hands in everything is probably a disadvantage at this stage. In a good economy having a diverse line of products may be profitable, in a depressed economy it means larger loses, especially for luxury items. I was speculating with a friend about honda, they have only recently entered the jetski market, which is surprising considering that large companies have abandoned this product, Suzuki, Polaris. Oddly a company like benelli has only recently decided to produce this prouct. This leads me to believe that small companies see the potential in a nich product. We must remember that profit is relative to the size of the company. The amount honda sees as a profit is probably a lot more then what moto guzzi sees as a profit. So is a ducati pw cruiser viable probably as ducati is still a relatively small company.
Oh and a new SS would be fricken great Rap
Polaris/victory is not fairing that well, I know a few of the designers there as well as the VP of design and they have recently out sourced much of there design for new products to freelancers. This IMO usually means that the company is speculating on new product, but are not willing to invest in producing new product. The sales of polaris and victory product is way down, the only real profit they made this year was on there side by side. Victory's big ticket items like there tourer are not selling very well at all.
Many companies have tried to enter the cruiser market an have been unsuccessful, BMW is a prime example of this. There cruiser was unique, completely different from anything out there an was marginally successful, yet was discontinued. Recently BMW's manageing director was asked if a new cruiser was on the horizon, and the answer was no not until they have something unique, and desirable. The focus for many of the companies currently is on the youth market, the last five years or so most of the companies have been trying to develope very user friendly entry level bikes and scooters.
Power cruisers are a very hard sell, from my understanding, they are a niche market that hovers between Boulivardiers and sportsters. I know this bc I did a lot of research on a power cruiser project for a jap company which I will not name, but they pretty much scrapped the project before I drew a single pic.
Guzzi, from what I have been told, relies and has relied on sales to the government. They provide twin cyl engines for unmaned airplanes, and have produced many bikes for the police and military. not bad for a engine made for a tractor, I am not sure what there current situation is, probably not good.
Jap companies are not fairing so well either, Honda recently closed down one of there euro studio's for both cars and RV, Suzuki has abandoned there CA studio, Yamaha is smart in that they dont have there own motorcycle design studio, they rely mostly on a firm called GKDI.
As far as Jap companies having there hands in everything is probably a disadvantage at this stage. In a good economy having a diverse line of products may be profitable, in a depressed economy it means larger loses, especially for luxury items. I was speculating with a friend about honda, they have only recently entered the jetski market, which is surprising considering that large companies have abandoned this product, Suzuki, Polaris. Oddly a company like benelli has only recently decided to produce this prouct. This leads me to believe that small companies see the potential in a nich product. We must remember that profit is relative to the size of the company. The amount honda sees as a profit is probably a lot more then what moto guzzi sees as a profit. So is a ducati pw cruiser viable probably as ducati is still a relatively small company.
Oh and a new SS would be fricken great Rap