| Author | Message | ||
     Carparts009 |
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070622/harley_davidson_mov er.html?.v=1 I don't know what I would do if this happened | ||
| New12r |
Just more rumors, Here is one for ya, Harley is gonna buy Ducati, then sell out to Honda, who is then gonna sell the whole thing to Smith and Wesson. Why on earth would a profitable company sell out? | ||
| Barker |
HA! Honda is not going to buy out HD Ducati is! | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Erik Buell has more money in his wallet right now than Ducati does. Ducati doesn't have the stability to pull that off. Honda, on the other hand, does. | ||
| New12r |
Honda, on the other hand, does. If you owned HD would you sell?? The company makes money hand over fist, so back to my original question.... | ||
| Toronto_s3 |
So what would be the big deal if Honda did buy Harley Davidson? Ultimately a deal like this would be dependent on how many shareholders would be willing to "sell" their shares to Honda. If the majority of shareholders think Honda or any other leveraged buyout company has the right offer for them to entice them to sell their shares then why not? That's the way publicly held companies work. But if Honda was to buy Harley (and I find this highly implausible) what would be the issue? Harley's would still be made in America. Any idiot will tell you a Harly made overseas is not even an option so lets not even consider that. I can see why Honda might possibly consider a deal like this. Obviously there would be combined synergies in purchasing power for materials and parts. For a while now Honda has been trying to eliminate the multibranded small store operators. Their dealers have been resisting the capital expense of Honda single brand stores. I bet Honda looks at all of those big and shiny Harley dealerships all over the United States and wishes that if they even had a third of those dealers co-branded with Honda that there would be a lot more product to sell. As for Harley I can see why having access to the technological and development departments at Honda would seem appealing. Honda is the best engine engineering company in the world and why not have the number one guys creating better, greener and more efficient engines for you? When it comes right down to it, Harley is a great at design but not so great at engineering at this point in time. Case in point, why else would they have Porsche help develop the V-Rod engine? I don't see why anyone wants to get their shorts all tied up in a knot if a deal like this were to go through. If the shoe was on the other foot and Honda was buying KTM or Ducati or Suzuki or even Honda you guys would on here be giving yourselves a pat on the back for a job well done by the mother company. It just seems sort of hypocritical to me. When an American company buys out a foreign competitor it's a job well done. When a foreign company buys out an American manufacturer the sky is falling. | ||
| Bcordb3 |
Harley was sold once to the bowling alley people AMF in the 70's. The product turned into real crap. Willy G. and his co-horts along with people who were employed by Harley got together bought it back. Then, I think it was in 1983 HD went public, the ISO was $18.75. If someone buys Harley it would have to be someone with a lot more money than Ducati. | ||
| Buellshyter |
It just seems sort of hypocritical to me. When an American company buys out a foreign competitor it's a job well done. When a foreign company buys out an American manufacturer the sky is falling. What's so hypocritical about it? Americans like to be in charge and for good reason - the rest of the world can't be trusted to govern. Furthermore, wouldn't you rather be the boss then the slave? | ||
| Hdbobwithabuell |
"said a buyout by Honda would be "highly unlikely" for both regulatory and cultural reasons." Those "cultural" reasons are the only reason that HD is so successful. Some of the folks that buy HD do so for the fact that they are "American" owned and built. This would be worse for the American people than if Dale JR. wasn't driving car #8 anymore  | ||
| Jlnance |
Why on earth would a profitable company sell out? Public companies are by definition always for sale. Not that they are always receptive to takeover offers, but that usually has more to do with the price being offered than anything else. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
There are also advantages to materials sourcing, component volume discounts, distribution cost savings, and transportation discounts. Every company has necessary costs that would be eliminated if the two companies were merged. It would be much more than an economic question, though. I really don't think the shareholders would be interested. | ||
| Etennuly |
WALMART is going to buy HD and Honda. Ducati and BMW are going to merge and be split between Target and K-Mart. You heard it here first!!!  | ||
| M1combat |
I think Wal-Mart is gunna buy China... | ||
| M2statz |
No Wal-mart will go south of the border first THEN to China! Just wait and watch it will happen!! And remember I called here first! | ||
| Naustin |
Wal-mart is starting consumer banking services, even after being denied a bank charter by the Federal Trade Commission, and despite having stated during those hearings that it did not intend to persue retail banking markets- only process credit card tranactions. So, now they'll do to banks and credit unions what they have spent the last 20 years doing to local merchants. Sure, your banking services might become marginally cheaper - But what will you lose? Look how cheap and crappy Wal-Marts products are. They're driven by cost reductions and quality suffers. You can't buy a decent toaster anymore in this country, thanks to Wal-mart. Do you really want them putting the Wal-Mart stamp on the financial services industry and the monetary system in general? They are big enough to seriously impact the entire economy - not just of this country, but the whole world. Do you really trust them to have all your paycheck - instead of just a good chunk of it? Do you really want a Wal-Mart Mortgage Company, or a Wal-Mart Collection Agency? Do you really want to have your Cashier double as a Debt Collector? Seriously. We are all about to become slaves to the Company Store, so to speak. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
I dont really work for HD, I just recycle my paycheck for parts and service ;) I have a sign on my desk that says "will work for Mud" | ||
| Aldaytona |
And I always thought Porsche/Audi was the BEST engine maker. I'll bet the folks at the Weissach R & D facility have forgotten more about engines than the lads at Honda will ever know........................... | ||
| Swordsman |
"I think Wal-Mart is gunna buy China..." After walking the aisles, I think China bought Wal-mart.... Call me crazy, but I think if Honda bought H-D, all the other Japanese cruiser manufacturers would get a hefty sales spike. In many minds, they'd all be "Jap" then, and no reason to stay loyal to the H-D brand. ~SM | ||
| Dbird29 |
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