On October 26, 2023, Harley-Davidson reported its 2023 Q3 monetary outcomes. Whereas CEO Jochen Zeitz particularly known as out the optimistic information that CVO retail gross sales are up 25 %, a better take a look at each income and bikes gross sales figures sadly paints a much less rosy image.
As a refresher, Harley-Davidson’s reporting format segments the corporate into three components: Harley-Davidson Motor Firm (all bikes besides LiveWire), Harley-Davidson Monetary Companies, and LiveWire. This construction has been how the Motor Firm has dealt with its monetary reporting ever because it spun LiveWire off into its personal firm in 2022.
Collectively, all three segments of Harley-Davidson type Harley-Davidson Integrated, which is the general entity that stories Consolidated Monetary Outcomes. Yr on yr, the Motor Firm reported a 24 % drop in income over Q3 of 2022. Reuters famous that inventory shares fell by 11 % in response to this information.
Since that is RideApart, not StockTickerApart, what we actually wish to find out about is bike gross sales. How did these do?
Harley-Davidson reported that retail bike gross sales for all its bikes (excluding LiveWire) have been down in all geographic areas for Q3 of 2023. Total, worldwide gross sales dropped by 16 % yr on yr.
Right here’s the breakdown of gross sales by area. In North America, the Motor Firm noticed a 15 % drop in Q3 2023 gross sales as in comparison with the identical interval in 2022. In Europe, the Center East, and Africa (which rely as one area, known as EMEA for brief) gross sales have been down by 13 %. For Asia Pacific, gross sales dropped by 24 %. Lastly, in Latin America, gross sales dropped by 11 % in Q3 of 2023.
What about LiveWire? One factor to remember is that Harley does one thing a little bit totally different when reporting its LiveWire numbers. Whereas its ICE Harley-Davidson Motor Firm figures all refer on to bike gross sales in every area, in addition to worldwide, its LiveWire figures don’t do the identical. As an alternative, they discuss with “Electrical Motorbike Shipments,” not gross sales.
With that in thoughts, what we are able to inform you for Q3 of 2023 is {that a} whole of fifty LiveWire electrical bikes have been recorded as shipped in Q3 of 2023. That represents a 76 % lower over Q3 2022 LiveWire shipments, which totaled 206 a yr in the past. (And no, we’re not lacking a zero—the determine actually does say that fifty bikes have been shipped.)
To be fully honest, LiveWire continues to be in its early levels, and plenty of new applied sciences and ventures aren’t instantly profitable. Additionally, the corporate solely not too long ago started promoting its bikes in Europe.
Whereas riders in Europe and Asia have been faster to undertake electrical motorbikes generally, riders within the US largely haven’t been. As LiveWire establishes itself in Europe and markets outdoors the US, notably with the S2 Del Mar, it’ll hopefully discover a extra receptive viewers.
