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Harley "Rewire" in 3 parts
Threephase:
Why does an “interim CEO” feel the need to lay out a “five year plan”. He is making changes to management to better align with his vision. Maybe, just maybe, he should actually “get” the job permanently before making all these structural changes to the company. Because if he does not get job, all of his “changes” will have to be undone, at the expense of shareholders and ultimately us purchasers of the product. JCPenney spent a fortune correcting the mistakes of their former CEO.
I still believe a motorcycle company should be led by a motorcycle rider.
A photo of a shoe salesman wearing a brand new leather jacket supplied to him at a photo shoot while standing over a company’s albatross does not give me the warm fuzzys.
iski:
When this new CEOs background is taken into account, one could expect a sales spike for HD in Kenya as long as it is environmentally sustainable & eco friendly.
RivRaptor:
--- Quote from: FLSTFI Dave on May 04, 2020, 06:46:03 AM ---Not sure he got it with the follow baby boomers to the grave and focus on customers.
By making the Generation that made them (HD) what they are, they would begin to recover economically. The assumption is to do that they would have to improve quality & features without skyrocketing prices which seems to me at least some of the major bitches. My quick attempt at humor was probably not the best choice of words so I edited the post, also to reflect the Gen Xers cause I was born in the crossover year.
--- End quote ---
Para Bellum:
Everybody blames Levatich for the problems...but we should think about Wandell's (the previous CEO) actions and the effect on HD's current troubles.
Wandell is the one who cut quality to the bone and raised prices. That's what made our bikes unreliable and short-lived. Sure, it reduced MoCo's costs, so it increased profits...which increased the stock price...but it led to hard feelings with both the long-time faithful and the recently arrived.
Investors loved it, as did Wandell's bank account. We know how riders felt about it, but it took a while for the low quality to be recognized widely. We can thank HD's strategy of "they all do that" and "never seen that before" and "no recall needed" for delaying recognition of across-the-board quality cuts and the inevitable loss of sales.
When Wandell realized riders were getting wise to his plan, he decided to quit while things were good, before the decrease in profits sank the stock prices, and his reputation was still good. He left a complete chit-show for the new CEO, who probably made sure he had a great Golden Parachute in place...since he was guaranteed to get fired. The $25 to 30 million he made the last 4 years, plus his retirement package, make him set for the rest of his life.
There was no way Levatich was going to turn HD around; not with the die-off of loyal customers, the lack of a Millenial market and their low opinion of HD, no Millenial money, no bikes for Millenials, the cost of bringing in a new engine and tranny. He also had to spend more money to get higher quality parts. Any of these factors could have prevented a turnaround; the combination of them made it impossible.
Now Zeitz has realized he's in deep doo-doo, and, since he's a relatively young man, he wants to avoid "retirement" and save his reputation. So he's working hard to blame it on Levatich by abandoning all of the old strategy. Trouble is, in the current China-virus economy, fancy marketing tricks and big promises aren't going to work.
HD is a mortally wounded company, and I expect them to file for bankruptcy within 5 years. With any luck, it will be bought by some riders who are astute businessmen, but it will be a generation or two, along with a major culture change, before it gets back to the glory days. It's Wandell who killed it. Levatich was just collateral damage.
ultrafxr:
Deleted duplicate post.
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