Harley-Davidson Archives - Page 5 of 28

News

There Is a Battle Right Now for the Control of Harley-Davidson

By Jensen Beeler 03/23/2020 16 Comments

Well before the firing of Harley-Davidson CEO Matt Levatich (and it was a firing, no matter how much the Bar & Shield brand touts its “mutual decision” narrative), there has been a wrestling of control over the future of the iconic American motorcycle brand.

Dwindling share prices on the New York Stock Exchange necessitated a change of regime at Harley-Davidson, as shareholders saw a continued loss on their investment with the Milwaukee firm; and thus, a loss of confidence in management’s ability to run the company.

Now with Matt Levatich out and Jochen Zeitz taking on the role of interim CEO and President of Harley-Davidson, a new battle is being fought – what is known in the investing world as a proxy fight.

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News

Harley-Davidson Halts US Production After Positive COVID-19 Case

By Jensen Beeler 03/19/2020 6 Comments

It was perhaps only a matter of time before Harley-Davidson would have to halt the production lines at its US factories, but that time is now, and it comes after the Bar & Shield brand discovered yesterday that a worker tested positive for COVID-19.

The employee worked at the Pilgrim Road Powertrain Operations facility, and tested positive Wednesday afternoon for the coronavirus. As a result, Harley-Davidson is halting production at this factory, as well as suspending operations at its York and Tomahawk facilities.

Harley-Davidson says that it will close these factories until March 29th, in order to help “support employee health and further bolster coronavirus containment efforts.”

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News

CEO Matt Levatich Has Been Sacked at Harley-Davidson

By Jensen Beeler 02/28/2020 17 Comments

In an attempt to bury the news in the Friday rush for the weekend, we now get a surprise announcement from Harley-Davidson saying that the Bar & Shield brand has parted ways with President and CEO Matt Levatich.

Harley-Davidson maintains that the move was “mutual” in its published statement about the news, but any broken hearted teenager can tell you that is never mutual, and in the business world this is especially the case when the news is dropped at the end of the weekly news cycle, and no permanent replacement is announced.

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News

Harley-Davidson Sales Continued to Disappear in 2019

By Jensen Beeler 01/29/2020 13 Comments

The yearly results for Harley-Davidson are out, and once again they paint a dark figure for the iconic American motorcycle brand, as its total worldwide sales collapsed like a dying star, with a decline of 4.3% to bring the company to a total of 218,273 units sold worldwide.

Things were worse in the domestic market, with Harley-Davidson’s sales in the USA showing a 5.2% drop (125,960 units) from 2018’s figures.

This leaves the Bar & Shield brand’s international sales down an even 3% (92,313 units) – for those doing the math.

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News

Harley-Davidson’s Electric Flat Track Gets a New Look

By Jensen Beeler 01/21/2020 12 Comments

When Harley-Davidson showed its design concepts for its future electric motorcycles, we were struck by the Bar & Shield’s plans for a road-going flat track bike…for two reasons.

For starters, the design and vehicle format seemed promising. In fact, it was surprising that it took an electric powertrain to get Harley-Davidson hip to its flat track roots and then apply them to the company’s street-bike offerings.

The second reason our interests were piqued was because of the bike’s very obvious use of Alta’s EV powertrain components, which made sense at the time since Harley-Davidson was a major investor in the electric motorcycle startup.

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Recall

12,000+ Harley-Davidson Trikes Recalled for Faulty Traction Control

By Jensen Beeler 12/20/2019 No Comments

Harley-Davidson is recalling over 12,000 units of its three-wheeled motorcycles, specifically its 2019 and 2020 FLHTCUTG and FLRT, and 2019 FLHTCUTGSE trikes.

The issue stems from the trikes’ traction control system software, which may respond incorrectly to a faulty rear wheel speed signal by activating one of the rear brakes.

The unintended activation of a rear brake could lead to an unexpected change in vehicle direction, which may increase the risk of a crash. Hence, a recall was started with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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Bikes

The Harley-Davidson Pan America Will Make 145hp / 90 lbs•ft from Its 1,250cc Engine

By Jensen Beeler 11/08/2019 No Comments

Continuing their glacially slow trickling of information, Harley-Davidson has sprinkled a couple more details to us about its upcoming Pan America motorcycle.

Expected now in late-2020, the Harley-Davidson is an American v-twin adventure-tourer, which the Bar & Shield brand hopes will attract new blood into its cult of two wheels.

At the core the machine, is a 60° liquid-cooled v-twin engine, which Harley-Davidson is giving some specs about at EICMA.

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Bikes

Don’t Say Streetfighter, Harley-Davidson Bronx Gets Better Defined

By Jensen Beeler 11/05/2019 No Comments

We have been giving Harley-Davidson a hard time about calling its new 950cc roadster model a “streetfighter” when the bike obviously not up to the task, and it seems the American brand has been listening.

Renaming the Streetfighter model now the Harley-Davidson Bronx, this 975cc street bike seems more suited to its name, especially now that the Bar & Shield brand is willing to talk more about details.

While still expected to be a (late) 2020 model motorcycle (so 2021?), it is surprising that Harley-Davidson didn’t debut the production-ready Bronx at EICMA (or any of the other trade shows this season). And with less than a year from its release, we have only a handful of specifics about this bike, many of which Harley-Davidson just sent out.

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News

Harley-Davidson LiveWire Production Resumes

By Jensen Beeler 10/21/2019 No Comments

William Shakespeare wrote the story “Much Ado About Nothing” which easily could have been the true telling of the Harley-Davidson LiveWire production halt, which we reported last week.

This is because we are happy to report that Harley-Davidson has resumed the production line for its first electric motorcycle model, after determining that concerns over the bike’s charging system were localized to a single model.

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News

Harley-Davidson Halts LiveWire Production Over Charging Concerns

By Jensen Beeler 10/15/2019 No Comments

The Wall Street Journal is reporting tough news for the Harley-Davidson LiveWire, as the American motorcycle brand is halting production of its first electric motorcycle because of issues with the bike’s charging system.

With bikes just now arriving at dealers, the announcement is poorly timed, and the issue seems to stem from the onboard Level 1 charger on the Harley-Davidson LiveWire, as owners are being told only to use the DC fast-charging system on the bike.

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Recall

Over 12,000 Harley-Davidsons Recalled for Missing Reflectors

By Jensen Beeler 08/22/2019 No Comments

Not all recalls are created equally. While some recalls deal with serious defects and possible situations, there are others that while still technically being a safety issue, still fall short of causing truthful concern. Today’s recall announcement is the latter, in our opinion.

As such, 12,733 motorcycles from the Harley-Davidson lineup that can use Harley-Davidson Detachable Tour-Pak Luggage Conversion kit are being recalled because the kit did not include replacement red reflectors.

As such, these motorcycles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 108, “Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment” and therefore needed to be recalled with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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