| Author | Message | ||
     Xoptimizedrsx |
found online!!! blame it all on the useless people who dont pay there bills. The biker trash that Hd gave loans to. I worked in the automotive world for a long while. I saw many guys go to Import shops and get turned down for a loan to show up later on a harley that cost a lot more than the jap bike they wanted. How is this? Well harley financed very poor candidates. Whom 90% had it reposed within a year or two. These guys caused buell to fail not buell. It was the •••••• financing department of harley, as well as biker trash that didnt pay their bills. Now we suffer for there mistake of bad banking for no reason but there own. read below. the truth!! the proof!!! What's going to happen to Erik Buell? Erik_Buell.jpgWe just got off the phone with Harley spokesperson Paul James. According to him, Erik Buell is in ongoing discussions with Harley about taking on an advisory roll at The Motor Company, in which capacity he'll contribute to future product design. The rest of Buell's 180 employees won't be so lucky, they'll be out on the street as of December 18, the day the Buell plant shuts down. This news will come as a shock to them, like the rest of us, they only found out about Harley killing Buell this morning. Paul didn't have Buell sales figures to hand and we don't believe they're published by Harley, but he suggested that this year's sales were down compared to last's about the same percentage as Harley's better-than-industry-average 21.3 percent figure. Indeed, Harley isn't killing Buell because it's unprofitable, it's killing Buell because it wants to invest every last penny back into Harley to save that brand from possible failure. <<<***It's not actually sales that are Harley's biggest problem -- although they can't help -- it's the troubled finance wing. Harley's practice of giving sub-prime motorcycle loans to unsuitable candidates has bit the company in its proverbial ass, forcing Harley to borrow $1 billion in operating capitol at 15%.***>>> That's only enough money to see it through to the end of the year. So far this year, revenue at Harley is only down 17 percent, yet net income has fallen 71.4 percent. The decision was made to shutter rather than sell Buell because it's product range and distribution network are so heavily dependent on its parent company, that there's relatively little value in the company that could be transferred to a new owner. Asked how Harley intends to replace the customers that will now be lost to Buell's competitors and how Harley intends to expand its appeal to post Boomer generations, Paul is insistent that Harley's current range already has the ability to appeal to that audience, saying, "Keep in mind, in the U.S., H-D holds the number two share position overall (all size bikes) among young adults 35 and younger and we are the share leader in heavyweight motorcycles among this group, so we know our motorcycles appeal to young adults. "We will continue to develop products under the Harley-Davidson brand that appeal to riders under 35 years old. That said - and while I can't discuss the specifics of future product plans - you can expect us to focus on high-impact product introductions that attract new riders and help define the future of motorcycling. We are not ruling anything in or out...we simply will pursue it through the Harley-Davidson brand." (Message edited by xoptimizedrsx on October 16, 2009) (Message edited by xoptimizedrsx on October 16, 2009) | ||
| Mr2shim |
You couldn't give me a Harley branded sport bike. | ||
| Buewulf |
There is the possibility that E. Buell will be directing projects for more sport oriented machines carrying the HD logo rather than the Buell name. I would doubt some of the cutting edge features like the fuel frames would be a part of something like that since that kind of deviation from norm doesn't really fit with the Harley brand, but we could possibly see something like what the XR1200 should have been: a Ducati Monster challenger slimmer, stronger and about 150 lbs. lighter than the current XR1200. It is feasible that they will come up with a performance oriented line of bikes. Again, difficult to tell if HD management could pull it of if they did. I bet they'll just keep pushing out chrome-covered boat anchors, but who knows? | ||
| Moonrunrs |
Optimizedsx is right. It seems what's killing HD and led to the end of Buell is the same greed and cavalier attitude toward credit that destroyed the banking industry. That foolish mentality led to chaos on Wall St. and the end to American sportbikes. So sad for America. This is where that article about Erik B. came from. http://hellforleathermagazine.com/ | ||
| Lighting |
Well, since they don't be able to approve every loan now, how are they going to sell this overprice bikes?, I believe that a melt down of some kind it's about to happen to Harley Davidson, however I don't believe the brand itself will go away. Now days the new generation could care less about history of the brand and that's the reason a lot of the buyers if they have a choice will purchase another more reliable brand but because of what XOPTIC stated are forced to buy HD since they're the only one that approves them. | ||
| Midknyte |
Well, since they don't be able to approve every loan now... What makes you think they'll smarten up stop now? | ||
| Lighting |
After December 31, Harley will not longer finance any other product that's not Harley Davidson, so if you go into a HD dealer they'll pretty much have to outsource there loans to another lenders for used motorcycles as well as some dealers carry Thunder Mountain and Sucker Punch and ohter customs, so now those company will go under or at least suffer financially also. Time will tell, soon they will be asking for a bail out money, hope China don't buy them out(crap did I just said that). | ||
| Patches |
Preventing Abusive and Discriminatory Lending: Statistics have shown that many homeowners in the current mortgage crisis received more expensive loans than they qualified for. This is often the result of a predatory practice known as “steering.” H.R. 3915 will prohibit the undisclosed and unfair compensation schemes that disadvantage borrowers, and require regulations to prevent steering for subprime loans. Mortgage originators who engage in predatory practices and loan steering will be subject to strict penalties. Holding Wall Street Accountable: Because mortgage companies can sell loans on the secondary market, they are often bought by large Wall Street firms and turned into securities for investors. This bill contains unprecedented federal consumer protections that will subject Wall Street firms to liability if they buy, sell and securitize loans that consumers cannot repay. They will be held accountable by consumers and will have the ability for loans to be rewritten and reworked. http://financialservices.house.gov/ |
