I was in a meeting last night where a few of my meeting attendees are pretty close to some of their local Harley dealers, and they pretty much stated the same thing as KHD just stated above. Perhaps it was a premeditated effort to build inventory in anticipation of a strike, or the fact the MoCo over estimated demand and the strike is something they can tolerate for 4-8 weeks to get dealer inventory in line.
One end result may be the MoCo has a pretty good feel on what the "saturation" point is in the US market. Financially healthy dealers are critical for sustained profitable growth for the MoCo, and floor plan interest can take a huge bite out of a dealers bottom line. Profitable dealers SHOULD treat their customers with respect, build competitive facilities, advertise and promote their products, train and pay their employees in a fair and equitable manner and continue to build the Harley brand in their respective market place.
The "sweet spot" for us as consumers is that point where the dealers can turn their inventory fast enough to not be subject to huge flooring expense, but not so short in supply where waiting lists exists (except CVO's
) and they begin slap the addendums on all of their bikes. Not sure what that production level is for the US, but somewhere around 2005-2006 model year levels would be my guess. For those of us who took a boat load of economics classes in college, it is truely a model of supply vs. demand. Even the MoCo is subject to this basic fundamental principle of business.
I would bet the excess capacity over US demand will go toward filling orders on a global basis. I would guess they have no plans to cut back production, rather ship it overseas in some of the rapidly expanding markets (China, etc.) They will become a truely global company to help them continue to grow and keep the mystique alive in the US!!
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Topic: Harley workers to go on strike (Read 18197 times)