Harley-Davidson is scheduled to release first quarter 2012 earnings tomorrow Wednesday April 25.
But after information leaked from a research update by the Motorcycle Industry Council became public, Harley-Davidson was obliged yesterday to confirm in a federal filing that retail sales of motorcycles in the United States rose 25.5 percent in the first quarter of 2012 compared with the first quarter of 2011.
In the filing, Harley-Davidson claimed that the Motorcycle Industry Council, an Irvine, Calif.-based industry trade organization, released to its members certain information pertaining to the motorcycle industry in the United States, including Harley-Davidson, “subject to terms of applicable restricted use agreements.” “The company learned that one of the members of the Motorcycle Industry Council, in apparent violation of those terms, disclosed information in a research update, presumably based on the contents of the Motorcycle Industry Council report,” Harley-Davidson stated in the filing. (picture @harley-davidson)
USA!!! USA!!!
Big bonus for K. Wandell.
Well … in light of recent revelations as to Chrysler etc’s so called ‘ Profit & Sales ‘ gains of late by the financial analysts , one does wonder what these H-D numbers translate to when placed in their full context , rather than the Spin version most manufactures are handing out to the general public
Context is everything . Without it the numbers are just another round of corporate rhetoric intended to mislead the general public .
e.g. Wait till the Money Guys come out with a full analysis before breaking open the champagne
FYI ; For what its worth : here in an H-D factory city the general mood amongst the workers and executives isn’t exactly …. positive .
Time will tell .
Yeah a “Leaked” report , sure.
these numbers are probably “cooked up” just like they did last year to gain investor confidence. pity.
it’s not hard to “be up 25%” when you cut production by 50%!
I love when people slam a company for cutting production. Fact is, Harley – Davidson was OVER PRODUCING bikes for years. They got ready in the mid 90’s & many of the jobs people complain they cut were created then. A Sportster only plant?? Never should have been built.
Reality here is, no matter what they do, people will bash them. Every new bike is boring & unimaginative. If they create new jobs they are greedy, if they downsize it’s again because of greed.
To the workers who are unhappy, go find a new job if you don’t like your current 1. I get my bikes taken care by a guy who used to be in HD Research & Development in German Town Wisconsin. He was let go in the down sizing, yet he doesn’t sit around and bash HD.
Fact is, no MOTORCYCLE ONLY company touches HD. Honda makes everything with an engine – Cars to Lawn Mowers. It took Victory 15 years to make a profit, which means if it wasn’t owned by Polaris, who’s money actually comes from snowmobiles & ATVs, they would have gone under years ago.
CAn you even imagine the backlash if HD once again put out a snowmobile like in the ’70’s or a lawn mower? Instead of the talk about What a great thing they have like People do with Honda & Polaris, people would go nuts about more over priced junk with an HD logo. THey do what they do to stay alive. You can complaine what CEO’s make…but if you could be 1, you’d do the same.
Brett : I acknowledge some of your statement but If your going to state facts.
Honda ” motorcycles only ” produced world wide was in excess of ten million last year.
Honda Made 18 Million Motorcycles in 2010 that does not include all of the other products on the market including their new airplane factory here in the states and auto factories in the states employing American workers without unions.
Let’s hope that Harley Davidson keeps their 4.5 billion dollar debt down to 50% of their net income and in a couple years their ” lending arm ” doesn’t put them back in the same place they came from.
How soon some forget. Astounding ! jaded or just younger blood
Good points Brett. Can tell what your past employment was by what you write. Cheers!
Shane
Curtis. Harley never reduced its production by 50%. Some people like you try to look like experts and throw out numbers out of the blue.
Some people just can not deal with good news especially about Harley. Makes me wonder???
A leaked report…..now run out and buy that stock.
I never said harley wasnt over producing motorcycles and that the cut back on production was needed or not needed.
Joe – that is exactly what I did. i threw out a random percent that they cut production – i do not know the exact number they cut production by and i never pretend to. the bottom line is that they cut production which causes sales to go up on paper. you wouldnt agree with that?
my post was never meant to bash harley. all i am stating is that harley cut production and sales went up on paper. i am not saying harley wasnt over producing bikes. and to Joe, i threw out a random percentage, sorry if i wasnt spot on, but it my post was more of a wise crack on numbers, thats all! no need to be so serious!
sorry about the two similar posts, the first one didnt show up so i re typed!