If you have time this weekend, you might want to take a stop by your local Buell dealer for a screaming deal. We just got this photo sent to us via A&R Streetlevel, and after calling a few shops in the SF/Bay Area we’ve heard some great prices and negotiating salesman on the other end of the phone. We’ve even heard of deals as low at $3,995 for an 1125CR. At that price, it doesn’t matter if Harley-Davidson honors Buell’s warranties, you can by enough parts bikes to your heart’s content.
Most of the internet is still abuzz over the news of Buell’s demise (don’t worry, your friends who read print magazines will hear the news in a month or two), but for the people at MV Agusta, right now is perhaps even more precarious because their future is uncertain. Harley-Davidson’s decision to circle the wagons around the HD brand, meant for MV that they would once again be up for auction to the highest bidder. This timing perhaps comes at the absolute worst moment, as the Italian brand was finally having to come to terms with how it would move forward as a company without Massimo Tamburini inking the designs.
What do you do when the financial arm of your company goes from making $100 million a year to losing $100 million a year? Why you kill off two other brands in your company of course. That is the move the Keith Wandell and the Harley-Davidson board of directors made yesterday with their announcement of shutting down Buell, and selling off MV Agusta. Realizing that the Harley-Davidson brand accounts for the majority of Harley-Davidson Inc.’s income, Harley-Davidson executives saw there being little choice but to sacrifice its other two holdings to save their namesake.
In conjunction with Harley-Davidson’s Q3 financial results, and shutting down of Buell Motorcycles, the Milwaukee motorcycle manufacturer is announcing that it will be selling Italian sportbike manufacturer MV Agusta.
Harley-Davidson bought MV Agusta just under a year ago, and assumed a substantial amount of debt from the beleaguered company. This past quarter, Harley-Davidson recorded a one-time fixed-asset impairment charge of $14.2 million related to Buell and a goodwill impairment charge of $18.9 million related to MV Agusta.
After releasing grim third-quarter financials today, Harley-Davidson has also announced that it is discontinuing Buell Motorcycles. In a somber video (posted after the jump), Erik Buell confirms the news, and praises the Buell team for taking on the industry giants with “this little American sportbike company.” Buell will continue to sell its motorcycle stock, and Harley-Davidson will continue to honor any warranties and part needs for Buell motorcycles.
It’s hard to take the AMA/DMG seriously sometimes, and today is one of those days. This time it is the latest musing from the bastard-child of road-racing that has use fired up: spec classes for the Harley-Davidson XR1200 and Kawasaki Ninja 250R. While not necessarily bad ideas at first thought, the proposed two new series seem like a step in the wrong direction for AMA road-racing.
There might be a pulse after all in the town of Milwaukee. A&R has gotten word that the Sultan of Slow is working on a cafe racer motorcycle, similar to the classic XLCR 1000.
With its second quarter sales dropping 35%, Harley-Davidson is going to be trimming its ranks in order to stay afloat. The Milwaukee based company will inject 700 hourly-wage workers, and 300 salaried workers into the ranks of the unemployed, with possibly more joining them in the future. These reductions come after Harley-Davidson earlier this year announced it was eliminating 1,400-1,500 hourly production positions in 2009-2010 along with 300 salary positions.
Dub Performance, a French tuner located just outside of the alps, have added their je ne sais quois to a Harley-Davidson V-Rod. With a 2200cc motor putting out 180hp, the Proto Slug (you have to enjoy the French sense of humor here) boasts a very radical departure from its cruiser lines. Pictures after the jump.
At the end of last year, we announced where if you bought a Sportster motorcycle (sadly, not the XR1200), you could receive the MSRP value of the bike if you traded it in the following year for “bigger” model.
The promotion was such a great success apparently, that now that it has ended, Harley-Davidson sales have slumped off.
Things have been quiet on the Italian front after Harley-Davidson acquired premium sportbike manufacturer MV Agusta last year, with the American company apparently leaving the brand alone for a while after its purchase. The company we love to hate from Milwaukee has finally started to make some changes in the old Italian brand, drawing a clear line between what product lines will focus on a premium road bike experience for the rider, and what products will be developed for track day weaponry for the weekend warrior.