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ADV NewsHarley-Davidson Faces Q3 Losses Amid Slumping Sales

Harley-Davidson Faces Q3 Losses Amid Slumping Sales

Declining sales hit Harley-Davidson hard.

Published on 10.30.2024

When Harley-Davidson finally brought its long awaited Pan America adventure bike to market in 2021, its popularity was a shot in the arm for the iconic American company. An immediate best seller, and seemingly wise pivot for Harley, it wasn’t enough to shield the Motor Company from looming circumstances, which include inflation-driven consumer caution, high interest rates and an overall decline in motorcycle sales. 

A newly-released and thoroughly-dismal 2024 third quarter financial report shows just how much things have shifted to the negative for Harley-Davidson. Most prominent is a 26% drop in consolidated revenue across Harley-Davidson Motor Co., LiveWire Group (the electric side of the business that was spun off as its own entity in 2022) and Harley-Davidson Financial Services. 

The sales slump is slightly worse than it looks at first glance when you consider Harley-Davidson Financial Services, which finances buyers, reported a gain of 10% for Q3, which helped offset HDMC’s actual 32% revenue drop. 

Harley-Davidson sales decline
Harley’s earnings follow a shaky Q3 marked by plans to cut dealer inventory after complaints of overshipping, scaling back diversity initiatives due to backlash and having to recall over 40k bikes due to potential short-circuit risks.

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Harley-Davidson was already braced for a decline, though its projection was for lost revenue of up to 9% over 2023. After the Q3 report dropped last week, the Motor Co. revised that forecast, projecting a 14-16% loss. As for retail sales, Harley had originally forecast sales to remain flat to a 3% loss for 2024, but has revised that percentage to be negative 7 to 10 percent. Full-year global shipments are now expected to be down 16-17% rather than the projected 7-10 percent. 

Some might jump to the conclusion Harley was wounded by a class action lawsuit over the company’s questionable warranty practices, a case which H-D eventually won, while others are quick to cite boycott efforts by conservative agitators angered by Harley’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices, a movement which did prompt the Motor Company to jettison many of its inclusion goals, though neither of these matters is likely responsible for Harley’s current decline in profitability.  

Alongside its Q3 report, Harley-Davidson’s current President, CEO and Chairman, Jochen Zeitz released a statement saying ”We have worked diligently through the quarter to mitigate the impact of high interest rates, and macroeconomic and political uncertainty, that continue to put pressure on our industry and customers, especially in our core markets.”

Harley-Davidson sales decline

This fits a disturbing reality manufacturers across many “leisure product” markets are facing. Just look at KTM parent company Pierre AG’s stunning September report showing sales had fallen by 27% during the first half of 2024 compared to the first half of 2023. This added up to an overall loss of 172 million euros compared to a 53 million mid-year gain in 2023. 

Polaris Inc., the Minnesota-based ATV, UTV and snowmobile manufacturer, which also builds Harley’s number one competitor, Indian Motorcycles, likewise showed dismal results for Q3, amounting to an 82% drop in year-over-year profitability. 

Other powersports manufacturers, including BMW Motorrad, have yet to release Q3 reporting, though with consumers still weary from inflation and unwilling to take on high interest debt, continuing to delay large purchases, especially of the non-essential kind, it wouldn’t be surprising if we see more of the same. 

Neither the success of the Pan America, nor a slight increase in unit sales of Harley’s other unconventional offering, the electric LiveWire, will go far in shoring up H-D’s financial woes as the company deals with a core customer that continues to age out. 

The good news for consumers, at least in the short term, is fire sale pricing being reported across many brands whose dealers are experiencing a glut of unsold units. As for the long term? Here in the States, additional cuts in federal interest rates and continued cooling of post-pandemic inflation will likely goose future sales. 

In the bigger picture, manufacturers might benefit from a shift in focus away from their high dollar flagship offerings, such as Harley’s extravagant CVO Pan America, to the more approachable, middle-of-the-road options we’ve been asking for all along. 

Author: Jamie Elvidge

Jamie has been a motorcycle journalist for more than 30 years, testing the entire range of bikes for the major print magazines and specializing in adventure-travel related stories. To date she’s written and supplied photography for articles describing what it’s like to ride in all 50 states and 43 foreign countries, receiving two Lowell Thomas Society of American Travel Writer’s Awards along the way. Her most-challenging adventure yet has been riding in the 2018 GS Trophy in Mongolia as Team AusAmerica’s embedded journalist.

Author: Jamie Elvidge
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Randy
Randy
October 30, 2024 12:35 pm

Agree with that last paragraph, with a few bits added. First, old guy alert (I’m 66). I have a 2006 Harley V-Rod, 2023 KTM 890 Adventure and 1991 Suzuki DR650. Overall, motorcycles are getting too big, too heavy and too complicated. Do we really need a 170HP dirt bike? Have we become such lousy riders that we can’t start a bike on a hill? Do we know so little about throttle control and braking that we need 5 or 6 different rider modes? All rhetorical questions of course.

For those of us who have spent time learning how to ride, how about giving us a nice, not too heavy, low on technology, reasonably-priced bike? I sold a KTM 1290 Super Adventure to buy the 890. The 1290 motor is amazing I’ll admit, and I do miss it sometimes, but the bike was so much more than I really needed. The 890 is a great compromise between power and weight, and I just turn off everything except front ABS anyway.

For Harley, the V-Rod was a wasted opportunity. I would continue with the few models the U.S.-based riders seem stuck on, and concentrate on the rest of the world. Bring back the V-Rod and put some design time into it.

Do the manufacturers actually talk to riders? Not the factory riders but the people who actually buy bikes? Maybe some old-fashioned market research would be a good idea.

Dawg
Dawg
October 30, 2024 1:52 pm

Polaris lost 23-26% in the same time period. The Japanese 4 lost 10.8% in the same time period. The biggest factor is the economy. Motorcycles are the first thing that people stop buying when they have no money. Especially big, expensive motorcycles.

Dawg
Dawg
October 30, 2024 1:58 pm
Reply to  Dawg

And “aging out” is the most stupid thing since they started rambling about it in the 1980s. There are new 60-year-olds EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Jamie Elvidge
Jamie Elvidge
October 30, 2024 2:12 pm
Reply to  Dawg

The problem for H-D and Indian for Polaris is that fewer and fewer of those fresh 60 year olds are choosing heavy cruisers.

Michael Konshak
Michael Konshak
October 30, 2024 4:41 pm

Too heavy. They should have adapted the 750cc 300 pound flat tracker (you too Indian) and decreased the HP by a 3rd for reliability, added lights and a quiet muffler and you’d have a bike that adventure riders want to ride. I would give up my KTM 690 if they did for an all American adventure bike.

Bubba Satori
Bubba Satori
October 31, 2024 4:28 pm

I wonder if hiring a shoe salesman as CEO was a good idea?

Norman Salas
Norman Salas
November 24, 2024 5:09 pm
Reply to  Bubba Satori

I wonder of them going woke had anything to do with it. Have you seen Jaguars latest commercial? You know, Bible prophecy is unfolding right before our very eyes. But the enemy doesn’t want you to know the truth.

Norman Salas
Norman Salas
November 24, 2024 5:07 pm

Unfortunately, while there’s a lot of history with harley-davidsons, the bike does not justify the price. Today’s Savvy consumers want a reliable cruiser that won’t break the bank. . The 2024 Suzuki boulevard, is a wonderful Japanese Cruiser..Japanese = extremely reliable. The amazing thing about this Metric cruiser, is that the MSRP is only 9,000 USD!

With it’s 850 CC engine, a curb weight of approximately 600 lb, beautiful floorboards with heel/toe shifters, very comfortable seats, and a maintenance free shaft drive, this bike is an underrated steal! When Americans get their heads out of their buttholes, and stop succumbing to the peer pressure of ” it’s got to be a Harley!”, then and only then will they make practical and wise purchasing decisions.

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[…] Harley-Davidson Faces Q3 Losses Amid Slumping Sales […]

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