Interesting news today from the Honda Motor Company, as the Japanese manufacturer has stated that its global operations have been affected by a cyber attack on its computer systems.
Honda isn’t saying too much about the situation right now, other than it is affecting email and internal systems. But, Honda is also reporting that the cyber attack has impacted production outside of Japan.
COMOTO the parent company to RevZilla, Cycle Gear, J&P Cycles has just settled a dispute with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for the alleged selling of non-exempted add-on or modified motorcycle parts in California.
In total, COMOTO will pay $1,937,500 to resolve the alleged violations, in a mixture of fines to CARB and payments for environmental projects that benefit the community.
That motorcycle sales are down because of the coronavirus lockdown seems like an obvious thing to state. Just for clarity though, American motorcycle sales through the first four months of the year are down 9% compared to last year.
Truthfully, that number is far less than we were predicting here at Asphalt & Rubber, and there is a good reason for that. While the COVID-19 scare has decimate on-road sales (-23%) and scooter sales (-24%), this has not been the case for off-road motorcycles sales totals, which are up 30%.
Even dual-sports seem to be buoyed by having a tire in the dirt, with sales reported to be down only 5% during the same time period.
Looking deeper into the dual-sport numbers though appears to give an insight on this odd dichotomy between street and dirt sales in the motorcycle industry.
The headline sort of says it all: Triumph Motorcycles will be releasing roughly 400 workers worldwide (240 from its headquarters in England).
With roughly 2,500 employees around the world, this reduction in staffing accounts for 16% worldwide – and it is a 24% reduction of Triumph’s UK workforce.
Episode 37 of the Brap Talk podcast is now out for your two-wheeled audio pleasure, and is packed full of motorcycle discussion for your open-road loving hearts.
This show covers a bevy of topics that we think you will find interesting, the first of which is about Harley-Davidson.
If you were looking for a succinct and fairly accurate portrayal of Harley-Davidson’s current business dilemma, look no further than this video put out by the minds at Canada’s FortNine.
Laced with their uniquely irreverent tone, FortNine breaks down how Harley-Davidson has gone from an industry-dominating name (and one of the strongest brands in the world), to a crashing meteor of declining sales and profitability.
Whether you agree with the video’s premise or not (namely that Harley-Davidson is beyond saving), the video is certainly striking a chord with the interneting masses – it had over 300,000 plays within its first 24hrs of it being on YouTube, and currently has close to 6,000 comments, just a day later.
Big moves continue at the Bar & Shield brand, as Jochen Zeitz has been named as the permanent replacement to Matt Levatich, dropping the “interim” part of his title as President and CEO of Harley-Davidson, effective immediately.
The move isn’t too much of a surprise for Harley-Davidson, as Zeitz was always a front-runner for the positions, after he took the temporary assignments over two months ago.
Coming closely after the news that Harley-Davidson would drop the “More Roads” business plan for a new corporate strategy, dubbed “The Rewire”, the American motorcycle maker is returning to a position that more closely follows where it was before Levatich took the helm.
It didn’t last long. Exactly two months after the firing of Matt Levatich as Harley-Davidson’s CEO, the Bar & Shield brand has announced that it is stepping away from the company’s “More Roads Lead to Harley-Davidson” business strategy, for a new plan that is being called “The Rewire”.
As you would expect, the new plan is framed partially by the response to the COVID-19 pandemic that is gripping the world, but Harley-Davidson sees things further down the path as well, saying that the “The Rewire” will be a five-year strategy for the motorcycle maker.
This move comes after a considerable internal battle for control of the Harley-Davidson board of directors, which saw a proxy fight breaking out with Impala Asset Management – one of Harley-Davidson’s largest shareholders.
The fight ended in a truce, with Impala and Harley-Davidson agreeing to add another board seat, of their mutual choosing. Presumably, a part of that peace offering is the new Rewire plan that we now see.
Everyone knew that the coronavirus outbreak was going to be hard on sales for the motorcycle industry, but no one was certain on how big of an impact the global lockdown would be…until now.
The first shoe to drop, Harley-Davidson has released its first quarter report for 2020, and the numbers are not good.
The report shows that Harley-Davidson motorcycle unit sales in the USA are down 15.5% (22,732 units sold) compared to this time last year, with international sales taking an even bigger hit, to the tune of a 20.7% drop (16,707 units sold).
This means a total unit sales decline of 17.7% for Harley-Davidson worldwide, with 40,439 units sold around the world in the first three months of 2020, down from the 49,151 units sold last year during the same time period.
Episode 35 of the Brap Talk podcast is now out for your two-wheeled audio pleasure, and is packed full of motorcycle discussion for your open-road loving hearts.
In it, we talk a bit more about the Ducati Streetfighter V4 S, as Shahin got to spend a weekend with this impressive machine.
The bulk of the show, however, is about how the coronavirus outbreak is shaping the motorcycle industry – specifically on what it can mean for motorcycle dealerships.
Starting this week, the Ducati factory in Borgo Panigale will once again rev to life, as the Italian brand returns to production work in Bologna, Italy.
While the production lines will continue, Ducati will not be continuing with business as usual. This is because the Italian motorcycle maker will only be recalling the minimal number of employees to restart the production and research operations.
Working together with the union (RSU), Ducati has created a new safety protocol, which includes everyone wearing masks, regardless of distancing.