SoC
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SuzukiSavage.com Rocks!
Posts: 498
New Jersey
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Gary, that was my point exactly, at this point Harley Davidson is basically a marketing company that happens to make motorcycles. Like many marketers, you look at who buys and how you extract money from them, not who you might get to buy.
My point was that, who is bringing less expensive electric cars to market, Toyota and Nissan, not the big luxuary builders. Same is true for Harley, they have a price point they want folks to buy in at, they are not willing to dilute the "Value" by having cheaper product. It seems stupid, but believe it or not that's the simple view of the way they teach it to you in business school. Harley is now run by a bunch of MBA's and Wall Street wanna be's, it's about the stock price and financial numbers and little else. Companies like Harley make almost as much money managing their stock as they do building motorcycles.
It's related in a weird sort of way but I am involved in the skiing industry and I once was in a discussion with corporate ski management types, who were arguing for eliminating discounted season passes at the ski area because it diluted "the value" of selling lift tickets. They actually believed that the folks they sold season passes to would ski as many days a year as they did (on their pass) if they forced them to purchase a full fair lift ticket everyday. My point being that as management loses sight of what it is they do, in the case of Harley that would be build motorcycles, and begins to put more emphasis on places that are concerned with other aspects of the business in total, marketing and finance can get too much influence.
I can remember what in effect was an attempt by them at building dirt bikes when I was a kid in the 70's. And they were pretty lame.
A big problem today is the dealer network they have, most exclusively Harley. You walk in there and it's way intimidating. I went to try and buy a couple muffler clamps at my local dealer. Went to the parts counter and described the clamp and gave the guy the size. He said what bike was it for, I told him an LS650, he asked what that was and after I responded it was a Suzuki he said they don't have any parts for Japanese motorcycles. When I said it 's the clamp for a Dyna muffler, mysteriously they had none in stock.
So then I make my way to the used motorcycle manager and I sit down with him and ask about the inventory and if they might have a Savage (they are often traded in at Harley dealers) in stock. He say's he's never seen one. I give him my card and tell him if one every shows up to call me and I would probably buy it on the spot if it's decent. He takes my card and drops it in his garbage can under the desk.
Maybe Harley's bigger problem is they can't sell bikes because of an intrenched dealer network that is so isolated they don't have a clue.
I don't know why it is but I went to get some parts at my local Suzuki dealer last week (which is also a Honda, Kawa and Yamaha dealer) and the showroom had more Harley's then anything. They were all used.
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