American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 174 January 2014 | Page 13

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new traffic and increased new unit
sales,” said one of the dealers surveyed,
while another said that there is “much
interest in 2014 H-D's, especially the
Rushmore Project bikes”; “the new
Rushmore models are very popular,”
reported another dealer, with one
respondent stating that “our sales are
up 150% from last fourth quarter to

date! It is a great end to a year that
started with a cold, snowy and slow
selling first quarter.”
Other dealer responses indicated
that all their scheduled deliveries
through January were sold, that
“demand is great on the water-cooled
models,” that there are “lots of
upgrades to liquid cooled touring,” but
that while “new bikes are driving

interest and traffic, those are the only
bikes selling.”
The survey period ran from October
1st to November 21st, and it was
noticeable that survey results may have
been “influenced by [declining]
performance in the second half of the
period”, according to Baird – “our
survey results in the first and fourth
quarters are particularly affected by

seasonality and weather,” Baird’s Head
of Harley-Davidson dealer research
Craig Kennison said, but with the meter
still running on store overheads, reduced
showroom traffic towards the end of the
year in particular (as the Christmas gift
market approached) will have been
eyed with concern by those dealers who
saw footfall diminish.
Kennison says that the strong
consumer response to the 2014 models
may have shifted demand away from
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