Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1182254
IN THE WIND P36 H-D, Indian Motorcycle Reveal Q3 Reports T hird-quarter 2019 reports were released by both Harley- Davidson and Polaris, October 22, revealing a continual drop in sales for both. Harley's de- cline was less than expected, while Polaris' Indian Motorcycle showed a decrease of "low-dou- ble-digit percent." Harley-Davidson Q3 Report The downward trend continues for the Motor Company, but num- bers in the Harley-Davidson Q3 Report are actually better than what was expected, suggesting that Harley has slowed the bleed- ing. Sales are down 3.6% on domestic sales, but continue to grow internationally, with a 2.7% increase for the third quarter. Of the motorcycle product mix, the Touring segment (Harley's larg- est chunk of the pie) is being hit the hardest with a decrease in unit sales of more than 10%. The Sporster/Street segment is down 6.5%, while the Cruiser division is, well, cruising right along. Still, the numbers outperformed the expectations for Harley. In the days before the Harley- Davidson Q3 report earnings release, H-D experienced a bit of a headache with the halt in production of the heavily touted LiveWire electric motorcycle. But production resumed after the al- leged battery charging issue was found to be limited to a single motorcycle. The "shocking" issue proved to be little more than a speed bump for Harley-Davidson and didn't stop their stock from climbing back into the 40s. The bigger headache for the Motor Company, and probably the darkest news of the report, is the 24% decrease in profits over last year's period, which the company can mainly be attributed to the spike in tariffs. Harley-Da- vidson sites the "Impact of recent EU, and China tariffs" have nearly doubled over last year's third quarter, having risen to a year- to-date total of $76.9M, further burdening the Motor Company. (Polaris) Indian Motorcycle Q3 Report Polaris reports that the de- crease in Indian Motorcycle retail sales is in the "low-double-digit percent"—far outweighing the over- all downward trend of the mid- and heavyweight motorcycle market. Gross profits also shrank substan- tially for Indian, from $20M last year to $12M in 2019, which Po- laris says in the Indian Motorcycle Q3 Report is "primarily due to tariff costs and negative mix." Polaris mitigated some of the discouraging Q3 news with a big reveal of their all-new water- cooled V-twin PowerPlus engine on the same day as their quarterly report. If the low-double-digit defi- cit points to a decreasing market share for Indian Motorcycle, they are undoubtedly aiming to get it back with the PowerPlus. Indian says it will pump out a class-lead- ing 122 horsepower and will serve as the heart of the new Indian Challenger, an all-new fixed-fairing bagger that promises to be "the highest-performing American V- Twin ever developed." Jean Turner Has the Motor Company slowed the bleeding? The Harley-Davidson Q3 report suggests they might have, despite the recent LiveWire e-bike hiccup.