American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 233 December 2018 | Page 64

NEWS Polaris Q3 - Indian Motorcycle Unit BRIEFS Sales and Market Share Up; Overall Sales +12% at $1,651 Million Polaris Industries Inc. declared a regular quarterly $0.60 per share cash dividend payable on December 17, 2018 to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 3, 2018. Eric Cagle left Tucker after two years as President, being temporarily replaced by interim MAG CEO Mike Buettner. “The change in direction represents a shift in philosophy with a focus on better serving Tucker dealers and vendors.” Cagle’s departure came in September, some weeks before Greg Blackwell’s appointment to Tucker as Snr Sales & Marketing VP and Hugh Charvat as the new MAG CEO. Harley has announced that it is selling apparel and riding gear on Amazon. Harley is blaming the annoying habit that Boomers have started to develop of, you know, kind of dying out, as forcing them to have to explore new channels and find new audiences and buyers - “we live in an on- demand, anywhere, anytime business environment where success depends on the ability to meet consumers on their terms and on their turf” (so not under the turf then!). EU motorcycle registrations by month for 2018 Q3 were 108,874 units in July (100,029 in 2017), 77,488 units in August (68,086 in 2017) and 82,897 units in September (76,611 in 2017). BMW Motorrad’s worldwide sales were down by -0.8% (126,793 units) for the first 9 months of 2018; September sales were +0.2% (14,124 units). Polaris Industries has reported motorcycle segment sales, including PG&A, of $155 million for the third quarter of 2018, which is flat compared to the third quarter of 2017, but with gross profit up at $20 million compared to $10 million in the third quarter of 2017. Adjusted for the Victory wind-down costs recorded in both the 2018 and 2017 third quarters, motorcycle gross profit was $21 million in the 2018 third quarter compared to $18 million for the 2017 third quarter. North American consumer retail sales for the Polaris motorcycle segment, including both Indian Motorcycle and Slingshot, decreased high-single digits during the 2018 third quarter. Indian Motorcycle retail sales increased low- single digits, in spite of an overall weak North American motorcycle market. Slingshot's retail sales were down during the quarter. Motorcycle industry retail sales, 900 cc and above, were down low-teens percent in the 2018 third quarter, meaning that Indian Motorcycle gained market share for the 2018 third quarter on a year-over-year basis. Scott Wine, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Polaris Industries Inc., said that “the dedication and strong execution of our Polaris team continued to drive broad based growth across the business in the third quarter. “Our model year '19 product news was well received, and our improving manufacturing and logistics performance accelerated the successful roll-out of RFM (Retail Flow Management) for side-by-sides. “International growth again outpaced North America, with Indian market share gains continuing in every market we serve. “We were also pleased with the early performance of Boat Holdings, the largest manufacturer of pontoon boats in the U.S., that we welcomed to our growing Powersports portfolio earlier Scott Wine, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Polaris: “The dedication and strong execution of our Polaris team continued to drive broad based growth across the business in the third quarter.” in the quarter. “Our commitment to customers and investments in the U.S. remain strong as we broke ground on a new multi- product PG&A and aftermarket distribution center in Nevada. We are strategically and tactically committed to being a customer-centric, highly efficient growth company, and our investments demonstrate that commitment. “Our goals do not eliminate or even diminish the serious challenges we face from tariffs, but they certainly increase our resolve to find acceptable solutions or offsets. We are making too much progress with our supply chain, safety and quality and innovation initiatives to have the benefits wiped out by protracted trade negotiations. “The challenge is real, and so are our efforts to overcome them. We remain well positioned with a world-class team and product line-up and are Continues on page 12 Expect to see Indian’s new FTR 1200S sell well when it hits dealerships. European models are being assembled in Poland from Complete Knock Down kits (CKD) shipped from its Spirit Lake, Iowa factory.