Sales continue to slip and fall for Harley-Davidson, as we see from the company’s second-quarter earnings report, which was was released today. Worldwide, the Bar & Shield brand saw an 8% drop in Q2 sales for 2019, when compared to Q2 2018.
This breaks down to an 8% drop in sales for the United States, with international sales showing a similar decline of 8.9%. For comparison, the relevant heavyweight motorcycle industry was down 4.9% in the USA during the same time periods.
On the dollar side of the equation, Harley-Davidson reported a net income of $195.6 million earned, from a consolidated revenue of $1.63 billion in Q2 2019.
This is nearly a 20% drop in net income, when compared to the $242.3 million that Harley-Davidson made on the $1.71 billion in consolidated revenue in Q2 2018.
This news continues an obvious trend for Harley-Davidson, as its sales continue to shrink each year, which is affecting the company’s bottom line earnings.
To combat this downward trend, Harley-Davidson has been aggressive with its “More Roads Lead to Harley-Davidson” campaign, which sees the Milwaukee brand finally reaching out to younger demographics, building motorcycles in segments beyond just cruisers, and even leading the way with a suite of electric two-wheelers.
For some silver linings to today’s news, Harley-Davidson reports that sales to American riders aged 18-34 was up 2.7% in Q2 2019, which likely means an increase of riders into the brand (Harley-Davidson quotes that there are roughly 3 million HD riders in the USA).
The question though is whether this new business plan is too little too late for Harley-Davidson, especially as the motorcycle industry as a whole shows signs of struggle, and the world economy gives indications of a coming recession.
With no shortage of new motorcycles, including electrics, coming from Harley-Davidson in the next couple of years, it will be interesting to see if the iconic American brand can reverse its current fortunes. As we are fond of saying, time will tell.
Source: Harley-Davidson
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