Harley-Davidson saw small gains in worldwide motorcycle sales in 2014, although their numbers dropped in Canada.
In 2014, Harley-Davidson sold 267,999 new motorcycles worldwide; that’s up 2.7 per cent from 2013’s 260,839 motorcycles. That’s not the same sort of growth the Euro manufacturers are seeing, but it’s still movement in the right direction.
However, Canadians bought fewer new Harley-Davidsons in 2014 than the previous year. Canadian sales of new Harley-Davidsons dropped 10.8 per cent.
The official press releases offered no explanation for the drop in numbers; it’s possible the wet spring in many parts of Canada dampened customer’s spirits, and it’s also possible the market is approaching saturation. It’s also possible that with Victory and Indian’s continued growth, more Canadians are choosing Polaris products over the MoCo’s. And we’re seeing an awful lot of aging geezers on those Can-Am Spyders these days too …
H-D’s sales were up 1.3 per cent in the U.S., 11.8 per cent in the Asia Pacific region, 6.4 per cent in the EMEA region and 2.1 percent in the Latin America region in 2014.
Stock price down 4.5% today.
This article paints a somewhat different picture compared to the company press release.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/harley-davidson-sales-growth-worldwide-tops-u-s-1422539832
Still a very successful company but profits declined by 1.2%, US sales slipped by 1.6% while world wide grew by 9.2%. US sales make up roughly 2/3 of the total and their share of US over 600cc sales slipped to 51% from 55%.
Like I said, still extremely successful, and good on them. They still deserve the criticism they get around here however.
I believe the sales slip was in Q4, not over the whole year. Both numbers were published in the same press release. That explains the other discrepancies as well, I think.
Modest gains on huge volumes sure beats huge gains on modest volumes Zac – I think you’re missing the point by painting such a ho-hum picture. Over the years (decades?) I’ve listened to so many predict that it’ll all go to shit for HOG, but here’s another year with a 15% gain on already incredible revenues, even exceeding analyst’s projections. Huge gains on international sales despite the higher dollar plus big gains on sales to non core demograhics means I won’t be selling my shares anytime soon. To all the pathetic haters…continue knocking yourselves out!
Those numbers came from them, not me. Other manufacturers are seeing more growth, but sure, the MoCo is still growing, and I expect to see further growth as overseas markets expand (as we indeed see from their numbers this year).