Victory Motorcycle to Wind Down Production

[rotor]

[url=https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/indians-victory]Indian's Victory

This pull quote certainly hits the mark:

"Motorcyclists are a picky lot. There have been a boatload of motorcycles that just didn’t resonate with buyers for the most arcane reasons. Motorcyclists will happily damn a great bike for some trifling matter."

I think another quote from the article better explains what is happening:
Quote:...Profit margins are thin and motorcycles are a luxury toy in this country...
And the only way this will change, is for US/Canada to join the rest of the world, where a motorcycle is either 50/50 (Europe, Australia...) a transportation device and a toy, (or 90/10 (Asia, Africa...)).

And that that process is underway, we will know by two phenomenons: the emergence of motorcycle parking facilities in downtowns of North America, and by legalization of lane-splitting...

I'm not holding my breath...

lol, being from Europe, I do wonder where you got that 50/50 ratio?

Here motorcyclists make 6,5% of the total road users..

lol, being from Europe, I do wonder where you got that 50/50 ratio?

Here motorcyclists make 6,5% of the total road users..
Of course, but I did not say 50% of road users are motorcyclists, I said that 50% of motorcycle rides/kilometers are for transportation (as opposed to "recreation"). Where I'm from in Europe, nearly everybody that owns a motorcycle uses it to - weather permitting - get to work and around town for whatever purpose people drive around town (for shopping, social contacts..).

As long as North American motorcycle market remains the way it is now (90%+ "expensive toys", with zero utilitarian value) it will keep deteriorating.

However, HD and dwarfs are hoping that they can keep the wolf from the door by appealing only to those that buy expensive toys. (cf., Motus). They are afraid to start promoting motorcycle as transportation device, because in that market segment they face what they believe to be unbeatable competition from the imports - mostly Japanese. They are not interested what happens in the long run, perhaps because they subscribe to the old "in the long run we are all dead" piece of wisdom.

Well, Victory is dead already, Indian is sure to follow, Motus will never sell enough of $40k Honda VFR1200 home-built replicas to be viable. Anybody else? (I didn't thing so...)

Can HD survive as the last Mohican in such toxic climate?

Future will tell.