Harley-Davidson’s Q1 2015 sales reports are in, and the Bar & Shield brand is reporting a 1.3% drop in unit volume sales, despite posting a $4 million increase in net income over last year ($269.9 million in Q1 2015).
Equally surprising is that the increase in net income comes despite a $60 million decrease in revenue ($1.67 billion in Q1 2015), which Harley-Davidson attributes to the growing currency divide between the dollar and the euro.
Harley-Davidson is using the currency issue, which in theory drives up the cost of American products abroad and allows foreign producers to discount in the USA, as a reason to adjust its year-end sales forecast, which the company now pegs at 2% to 4%, rather than 4% to 6%.
