Harley Davidson news - will the sales slump continue into the 2009 and 2010 model years?
According to various sources, it appears that Harley-Davidson is experiencing a significant downturn.
The Kansas City Business Journal reports:
In the wake of lower first-quarter earnings despite higher revenue compared with last year, Harley-Davidson Inc. said Thursday that it will temporarily close some plants, reduce daily production and cut about 730 jobs.
Forbes, BusinessWeek, and many other business journals are all reporting similar news. How will this affect the 2008 year sales, and what will this do to the 2009 model line-up?
Update July 17, 2008
Harley's net falls 23% in second quarter 2008:
Click here to continue...Harley-Davidson Inc., the iconic motorcycle-maker struggling with a weak U.S. economy, said its second-quarter profits fell 23% amid a steep drop in domestic sales.
Shipments of motorcycles didn't fall as much as the company had forecast in the spring, however, and results were better than Wall Street analysts had expected.
[snip]
Shipments of motorcycles fell 15.6% to 80,326. The reduced volumes hurt the company's operating margin, which fell to 20.1% from 23.9% a year earlier.In April, Harley-Davidson said it will significantly cut shipments of motorcycles to dealers and trim more than 700 jobs in response to a steep reduction in U.S. sales.
Harley-Davidson said then it plans to ship between 23,000 and 27,000 fewer motorcycles this year than in 2007, putting the total dealer deliveries in 2008 at no more than 307,500 units. The company maintained that forecast Thursday.
Source: Wall Street Journal, July 17, 2008
MotoGP Animals Video
Here's a cool MotoGP excerpt video, found on MetaCafe. (No, that's not an ultrasound image in the thumbnail, it's a close-up of a helmeted MotoGP rider's head...)
Motorcycle racers kick ass. That's all there is to it.
Mystery Road Dots on Highway 16 near Rancho Murietta in Northern California
Has anyone seen these black, rectangular 'dots' taped to the road surface lately? They are located about a mile apart, on highway 16 between Plymouth and Sloughhouse in Northern California.
They aren't much of a hazard, but I wonder what the heck they are. They are all placed in the center of the travel lane. You will probably miss them if you are in a car, but if you are on a bike, you may ride over them.
Click here to continue...SanDisk Extreme - Ducati Edition & Firewire Reader
SanDisk Extreme Ducati Edition CompactFlash
SanDisk released their fastest CompactFlash card as the Ducati Corse Official Sponsor. This card is fast and features 45MB/sec sequential read/write speeds. This is the ultimate card for a Ducati fan or photographer who wants the highest level of performance.Product Details
- Available in 4GB and 8GB configuration
- Fast 45MB/sec. sequential read/write speed
- Tested for use in extreme temperatures -13 F to 185 F
- Includes travel case and RescuePro Deluxe software
- Lifetime limited warranty
- UDMA card for the fastest transfer rate with professional cameras
Related Products | |
---|---|
SanDisk SDCFX3-004G-A31 4 GB Extreme III CompactFlash Card (Retail Package) ASIN or ISBN-10: B0008D76L0 | |
SanDisk 8 GB Extreme III CF Card SDCFX3-008G-A31 (Retail Package) ASIN or ISBN-10: B000FKQ8LA |
I've enabled comment moderation on roadcarvin.com
We've been operating with 'open comments' -- unregistered guests could leave a comment and it would be visible to other visitors without review.
Due to several recent inappropriate comments (which I've deleted) I've now enabled comment moderation - so if you aren't signed in to your roadcarvin.com account, new comments will not be visible to site visitors until they've been reviewed by a site moderator.
If you want your comments to be visible immediately, you'll have to sign up for an account. Membership is free at present, so why not stop lurking and come out of the shadows? What are you waiting for?
2009 Harley-Davidson Models Certified for Sale In California
Here's the scoop from a recent CARB certification document for the various Harley-Davidson models. From the documents I've found, it appears that the following 2009 models are certified for sale in California. We'll be updating this page as we find more information; please come back from time to time and see what's new!
Models covered so far: 883 and 1200cc Sportster, V-Rod, and 1584cc models (Street Rod, Rocker, Street Bob, and more!)
Click here to continue...