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T H E O N LY M A G A Z I N E F O R T H E W O R L D W I D E V- T W I N PA R T S , A C C E S S O RY A N D P E R F O R M A N C E I N D U S T RY
Baird’s Harley-Davidson
dealer survey
AIRD Survey suggests
positive response from
consumers as dealers
report steady sales growth and
interest in new models.
In the latest survey undertaken by
Robert W. Baird questioned 62 HarleyDavidson dealers about retail trends,
inventories, promotional activity,
financing trends and future
expectations. The sample group was
made up from dealers in the US,
Canada, UAE, Austria and Belgium.
The US dealers surveyed reported
an average increase in sales of 8-9
percent, with a significant increase
toward the end of August when details
of 2014 year model bikes emerged.
These figures correspond with those
from the Motor Company that show
year-on-year sales increases for
second quarters since 2010. However,
the release of the new models is
reported to be having a negative
impact on used bike sales, with these
being down around three percent. The
wait for the new models to arrive also
had a negative impact on footfall
through the dealer showrooms, with
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quotes from the dealers responding to
the survey including: “Rain and
expectation of 2014 model changes
just killed August sales,” and “Very
slow for the last while as people
waited to see the 2014 lineup.” Yet
other dealers had more positive
responses including: “Seems like new
Harleys are drawing interest, sales on
new should improve quite a bit,” and
“Traffic has been down until the ‘14s
were released. We have had good
traffic since then,” and also “New bike
momentum is picking up with the
release of 2014 machines. Total new
combined sales (Jul/Aug) should finish
up around 14 percent.”
hile awaiting delivery of the new
for 2014 models many dealers
have been reducing new bike
inventory. This lack of new machinery
on the dealership floor has been
balanced out by a reasonable level of
used machinery due to good trade-in
activity. In the survey 90 percent of
those that responded to question on
inventory level commented on them
being ‘about right’ or ‘too low’ for this
time of year. Over one third indicated
W
Laurent Dutruel took second place in the Freestyle class at the 2013
World Championship of Custom Bike Building, and followed that with a
win in Performance Custom with his turbo charged XR 1200
they wanted more inventory versus the
10 percent that said inventory was ‘too
high’ - many dealers indicated they
could use more 2014 bikes.
Using available data Baird is
suggesting that the average US dealer
had a 60 bike inventory at the end of
second quarter of 2013, which sees
the level up from 49 bikes for the same
period last year.
omments on inventory levels from
surveyed dealers range from: “We
have been low all this year on new bike
inventory. Always could use more,”
and “Lowest new and used bike
inventory in five years,” to “Probably
going to be sitting on too many used
when weather turns, the new norm,”
and “Seems like most dealers are
giving something away on new deals,
inventory levels are better, but still
doing a lot of dealer trades.”
Despite the improvement in sales
and inventory levels it would appear
that dealers are still having to discount
to maintain business at a reasonable
level with over half of the dealers
OCT 2013
ISSUE #171
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