like I said the dealer was a dealer I went to often back in the day who attempted to become a all in power sports / HD dealer and 1 I drove past from time to time . the 1 eventually branched in to 2 completely diff buildings in the same parking lot 2 totally diff atmospheres totally diff service centers . the other kept together less than 3 yrs and closed the power sports end completely. just not the same consumer at all . how many sons of arthritis really want to get off there lazy boy on wheels and head out on to a dirty bumpy trail when they can be rolling down a paved interstate on there 25k bike. the Yamaha and zuk dealers are totally diff consumer than HD. **** I know Polaris dealers that don't even have street bikes . and Indian dealers who have no sleds or atv.
poo is making way more on bikes than sleds. if HD wanted to sell a SXS they could very EZ contract it out with cat or poo or BRP or kymco and slap some underpowered loud v twin in it for way way way less money and risk than buying the company . kind of like Yamaha and cat or Ex Mark and cat the list goes on
Hi Ezra! You are forgetting about what brands mean. HD Is V twin road cruiser motorcycles. Darn good ones. And that's it. Not lawnmowers. Not speedboats, not sxs or sleds. Not cars or trucks. V Twin road cruiser motorcycles. An HD branded sxs, sled, lawnmower, weed eater or whatever else will fail. The brand, while being the dominant player in its segment (V Twin road cruisers) is not a leverageable brand name. It's not about production, you're correct, they could build an sxs, but they don't have a brand name to sell it.
And before you tell me "They sold snowmobiles in the 70's!", that was 40 years ago, and the marketing/branding business has changed a lot in 40 years. You can't sell a Chevrolet washer/dryer because Chevrolet stands for cars and trucks. Harley stands for V twin road cruiser motorcycles. That's it.
I'm not saying AC is right or wrong, but when you do the quarterly analyst calls with Wall Street analysts the question is not "How is your business running", growth forecasts and positive buy ratings come from the answer to "How are you going to grow your business?"
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How come the OME's cant just stick a carb motor in a simple chassis without all the fluff and puff and have a price point for a reliable fun affordable sled??
Not sure any OEM will stay positive if sleds keep pushing past $10K, $15K and up...... for 90days of fun..... My kids have all sledded from 2 yrs old and up...now college educated with good jobs, sleds are low on the priority list because so expensive......beware all 4.......
Why not? No margin. Why would you introduce a low margin product in a declining or stagnant category when you have the high fixed costs of a production facility? Recipe for out of business, and no, you won't make it up on volume.
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I find this thread interesting...as for millenials, I have a 19 yo that's in the process of F'ing up a pd for college education and only cares about his Acura RSX - lowered, gold/chrome rims, endless mods, and social media..don't give 2 sheets about TV, unless it's the Packers. Likes snowmobiling, but of course I have to pay for it. No concept of "trying hard" at anything, or really hard work. Super weird generation, with limited ability to pay for these toys. Times R changing. Banks...please sell me that ACE900/w Cudney. LOL
Interesting. Since I was a market research/marketing person I try not to make generalities, but the Millennial thing just bugs the crap outta me. Here's an example. I have recently started listing rooms on booking.com. Some of the people are just regular folk. But I never had much of a millennial/hipster business. Now I seem to attract them, it is like Wicker Park has emptied into my motel. What a bunch of whiners!! And what's worse, they will post a negative review saying "the shower head didn't work" after a three day stay. Wouldn't it make more sense to come down and tell me the shower head didn't work on day 1 so I can fix it?
