Are these death throes or just a side effect of restructuring?

"If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent" (essextee)
07/09/2020 at 15:31 • Filed to: None

DISCUSSION (40)

Wacko > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 15:40

what they needed was something like the BRP spyder. Many of their clients are going towards the Spyders. or Mobility scooters.

Shit like this happens when you put all your eggs in the same basket.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 15:41

I said this on the FP, but might as well here too. This tells me the new CEO thinks the biggest problem with Harley is it s bean counters. Expect nothing to change and no progress. So, yes, death throes.

Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 15:41

Which ever it may be , I wouldn’t call the loss of jobs good. :(

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Wacko
07/09/2020 at 15:45

Harley has singlehandedly been keeping the chrome industry alive for decades now

WiscoProud > Wacko
07/09/2020 at 15:46

My FIL has a Harley and goes on rides with other Harley riders. Even he thinks the company is circling the drain. All the guys he rides with are late 50s - 60s, and are likely on their last bikes.

Mercedes Streeter > Wacko
07/09/2020 at 15:51

They have trikes and they are some of HD’s best selling models. Their problem today is the same problem they’ve been facing for a while: Their ridership is getting too old to ride anything, even trikes.

Younger riders are largely either going used or to other brands, neither of which help the HD bottom line. Perhaps Harley’s future is that of a more niche or "exclusive" brand, not one with a 50% dominance of the cruiser market .

Gone > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 15:57

That presser is embarrassing business speak BS. Read it as continuing down the current path of expecting old people to continue buying HDs forever. It’s gonna die.

The key elements of The Rewire:

• Enhance core strengths and better balance expansion into new spaces
• Prioritize the markets that matter
• Reset product launches and product line up for simplicity and maximum impact
• Build the Parts & Accessories and General Merchandise businesses to full potential
• Adjust and align the organizational structure, cost structure and operating model to reduce complexity and drive efficiency to set Harley-Davidson up for stability and success

More tradition, less R&D, but some and because we minimized it, it will suck and be dumb and fail. Damn millennials.

Same as above

Eliminate all the unique ones and make them all similar but the paint.

MERCH! Slam the like button! CLICK AND SUBSCRIBE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cost cut all those parts and features. Alas quality, you nev er had a chance.

For Sweden > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 15:58

Just copy the Polaris Slingshot already lol

Pickup_man > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 16:00

Even as a millennial I’ve wanted Harley to succeed, the company and demographic clearly has a lot of problems, but I felt like they were moving the right direction, making the right statements, and hosting the right events to really get younger people involved. This new direction seems to turn that right on it’s head though and double down on what I consider to be wrong with Harley, so I’m out. I don’t wan’t Harley to completely die, but I think it’s going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.

WilliamsSW > Gone
07/09/2020 at 16:05

Basically it’s “milk this cash cow until it keel s over and dies” then?

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Mercedes Streeter
07/09/2020 at 16:06

They need to buck up and make an actual cheap standard bike. The Sportster at it’s core is just a less bulky cruiser and that doesn’t cut it.

Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
07/09/2020 at 16:18

It’s certainly a huge issue. I also question why they’re deciding to invest in electric this early.

I would have directed for premium small bikes (and the Street series isn’t that); a small nicer looking bike to take on the Rebel 300- 500 and a sporty flat tracker to take on 300-500cc starter naked and maybe a small adv.

They keep pissing about with costly + 900cc or electric bikes and it’s not going to save them.

The Ghost of Oppo > Wacko
07/09/2020 at 16:23

That’s because you can buy the fully loaded Spyder and plus every accessory Can Am has in their catalog and it will still cost less than a base Ultra Glide Trike

Gone > WilliamsSW
07/09/2020 at 16:25

That’s how it reads to me.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 16:26

Price it from $5-$6k to compete with the Suzuki TU250 or Yamaha XV 250 and people will buy it just by virtue of it being a cheapish starter bike. It’ll introduce people to the brand who might never have considered a Harley in the first place.

bob and john > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 16:29

man. I had hope with the previous CEO.

the new guy is taking it right back to where this was before.

down goes the harley ship

bob and john > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 16:29

man. I had hope with the previous CEO.

the new guy is taking it right back to where this was before.

down goes the harley ship

McMike > Wacko
07/09/2020 at 16:30

what they needed was something like the BRP spyder. Many of their clients are going towards the Spyders. or Mobility scooters.

They have two trikes already.

Kinja'd!!!

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com
07/09/2020 at 16:33

harley is hardly alone there tho

least at the moment... damn near everywhere is shedding jobs

supermarkets and parcelpost are screaming for staff tho

McMike > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 16:35

They need to buck up and make an actual cheap standard bike. The Sportster at it’s core is just a less bulky cruiser and that doesn’t cut it.

They came up with a bike smaller than the Sportster in 2014 called the “St reet” series (watercooled 500 and 750cc engines) . I don’t know how many of them they sell each year , but it didn’t attract the group of new, younger customers they hoped it would.

wafflesnfalafel > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 16:36

T hey just need to start a rumor that Obama is going to take their bikes away from people, then sales will shoot through the roof.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 16:38

Hell, they could make a step-through. They have one in their history (1960-65 “Topper ”) so they wouldn’t necessarily be doing something “new”.

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 16:41

The problem with Harley is that their entry level stuff is absolute garbage, and their brand only works if they can get you in at that level. I’m sure the big money bikes are good, but Jesus Christ that new Sportster I rented in Colorado was a rolling dumpster fire.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > McMike
07/09/2020 at 16:42

It’s because t hey’re still massive and expensive and look like a Harley . $7k before options, 500lbs wet. It's not something somebody looking for a commuter or first bike would consider.

Kinja'd!!!

Darkbrador > wafflesnfalafel
07/09/2020 at 16:45

genius !

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 16:58

Brickman > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 17:03

HD should make a 3 wheeler like the Morgan 3 wheeler. Except with big tires, roll cage and exposed rivets.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 17:05

I think a lot of people would be interested in a street fighter kind of bike from Harley . Yeah, a superbike with Ducati-like styling would be sacrilege but sticking to obese cruisers is not going to appeal to the ageing Gen-X. They simply don’t have the same taste that boomers do/did .

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > Brickman
07/09/2020 at 17:05

Early 3- wheelers DID use modified Harley engines after all...

fintail > Gone
07/09/2020 at 17:06

Surprised in that pile of babble there wasn’t anything about synergies, silos, paradigm shift, bandwidth, leverage, etc, but I guess there kind of was.

McMike > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 17:17

I think it was a flop because it was too expensive. It’s as standard as you can get. So standard that it’s boring.

Michael > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever
07/09/2020 at 17:29

So the Indian FTR?

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
07/09/2020 at 17:55

I was just going to say they need a Topper , I thought Harley was going to make an electric motorcycle and scooter? W hen we had our scooter club in Hawaii this old guy with a crazy collection had one. It’s the only one I ever saw. I don’t think I have a picture of that one but he had all kinds of stuff. I’m sure he is gone now, I should ask a friend what happened to all the scooters.

Kinja'd!!!