You guys need to get over yourself about HD dumping Buell, they didn't sell much and times are tough, enough said!
Well if H-D didn't have 32 models not including CVOs AND a dealer network that didn't think it was still the mid 90's waiting list days then maybe they would sell more...
and don't even get me started on the parts dept or should I say Farkle dept?
(yes I know not all dealers apply here but the majority unfortunately out weighs the minority...)
That bike is bad @$$. If only Buell would make something like this with a mono shock! That would be awesome. Watch someone convert a ULY to a dirt bike.
"You guys need to get over yourself about HD dumping Buell, they didn't sell much and times are tough, enough said!"
The last few years since the 1125. Buell has sold more bikes and made bigger profits each year something H-D could not do during this tough economical time...Do some research before you open your pie hole.
The last few years since the 1125. Buell has sold more bikes and made bigger profits each year something H-D could not do during this tough economical time...Do some research before you open your pie hole.
Assuming that's true, although I'm not sure where you're getting YOUR financial data, was it enough profits to cover the R&D expense on the bike?
Buell generated REVENUE, that's true, but whether it generated PROFIT is not something we lowly non-managerial types have access to. So lets take it a little easy, hunh? You opened your "pie hole" without all the info too...
We don't know the actual profit numbers because Harley doesn't publish them and if they did, we wouldn't know how much profit or loss would be attributable to accounting and poor management by Harley.
What is certain is that Buell has been growing much more strongly than Harley over the past few years:
Considering that chart, if Harley wasn't making a profit from Buell, I would have to say it was because they mis-managed the asset. It wasn't because Buell was not growing. Expecting growth greater than Buell actually showed would have been very foolish.
. . . but regardless of any of that Harley has no excuse not to sell the Buell rights so someone can continue to make an American Sport-bike.
Erik Buell will be making motorcycles - one way or another - so Harley can either profit from his efforts and make the transition as easy as possible . . . or they can be jerks, jealously guard assets that are worthless to them and eventually end up with the same result: Erik Buell making Sport-bikes.
That graph is misleading, looking at the numbers Buell and victory combined don't equal half the revenue of HD at any point on that graph. I know the point of it is to show growth rather than revenue but the way it is laid out doesn't show a true picture.
However, the comparison of Buell and Victory is quite interesting.
(Message edited by not_purple_s2 on December 06, 2009)
Regardless, anyone who owns or has owned one of these machines knows how badly H-D bungled the Buell brand, you can't sell something you don't market correctly or support fully. You can count on one hand the number of dealerships that properly carried and promoted the product.