Harley Davidson have just released their 2023 Fourth Quarter and Year end results…and it does not look too good for the American motorcycle manufacturer!
Motorcycle shipments were down 7% on the year to a mere 180,000 whilst the 4th Qtr were down 13% with a poor 29,500 on the 2022 results.
Global motorcycle sales were down 9% on the year and 11% for the 4th Qtr. North America & Europe sales annual sales slumps of 10% & 11% respectively. 4th Qtr saw North America drop by 9%, Europe by a whopping 22% and surprisingly Asia Pacific down 10%, even though H-D had been selling their small displacement engine bikes with production partners of QJ Motor in China and Hero MotoCorp in India.
As seems a regular theme with Harley Davidson though, their upswing appears to be coming from their financial services sales with an annual increase of 16% up to $660million
Unfortunately their electric dreams and flames of fancy have been doused with water. Whilst their LiveWire shipments increased by 11% to 660 and mainly due to the S2 Del Mar…the revenue is down 18% to $38million.
The stark drops across their revenue sectors does appear to be ominous for the brand but the questions are increasing with frequency and volume now for the future of the company and whether this 3rd year of their Hardwire strategy is indeed working.
In the 4th Qtr alone for 2023, and this coming after a poor 3rd Qtr also, revenue was down by 14%. All down were motorcycles by 13%, part & accessories by 14%, apparel by 21%, licensing by 27% and ‘other’ by 22%
What will 2024 bring?
Full report here
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