As a side note to the previous entry, I'll relate this story:
At the Washington D.C. Expo, I was looking at the scooter pavillion, which was right next to the Harley-Davidson exhibit. I was looking at this Genuine Buddy Saint-Tropez, when three doughy, greying, middle-aged men wandered across the aisle. One of them sat down on Buddy and said, "Hey, we should each get one of these!" His companion replied, "Yeah, and we should all put rainbow stickers on our bumpers."
Harley-Davidson is cutting 1,110 jobs over the next 2 years, 400 of those in York, Pa. The York jobs lost are primarily due to the decision to close and outsource the part trucking division, as well as shrink the paint and frame operations. According to an article on Lancaster Online, reasons include “the credit crunch has kept some would-be customers from obtaining financing”, and “the global economy that's impacting discretionary items, especially something that's as discretionary as a motorcycle." “Harley said worldwide retail sales fell 13.1 percent in the fourth quarter, with sales in the U.S. — its biggest market — falling nearly 20 percent. International sales crept higher, though, and the overall heavyweight motorcycle sales fell 25.5 percent in the same period, Harley said.”
O.K., we scooter and sportbike riders like to tease Harley. They are a clothing company that also sells bikes. They make heavy, low performance bikes that enable weekend posers, dressed like pirates, to get from bar to bar. 90% of the motorcycles HD made are still on the road; the other 10% made it home. But I don’t like to see local jobs cut.
Harley’s problem is that their bikes cover the spectrum from heavy-weight cruiser to heavier cruiser. Their smallest bike is the 550lb. Sportster 883, which they consider an entry-level bike and is only “sporty” compared to a Road Glide. This is at a time when scooter sales are up and Kawasaki is turning away customers for the Ninja 250. If your customer base views your product as “discretionary”, then you are going to be more subject to the fluctuations of the economy. Harleys are the soccer-mom SUV’s of the motorcycle world; big, heavy, overpowered lifestyle accessories. In these times, Harley needs a bike that it can market as economical transportation, not a discretionary luxury.
It’s ironic that international sales are up. Harley sold a bike in Europe this year that it did not sell in America: the XR1200. It is based on the dirt oval racers of the 70’s. Its foot controls are (gasp!) not way out front. It is actually sporty. Industry journalists and critics were begging for its release in the States. Harley eventually relented and is currently selling a limited run of them here. They seem to be saying, “If you want them, we’ll build a couple. But this isn’t what we do.”
This recession, with its preceding gas price hikes, is being compared to the 1970’s. You may recall that the Harley-Davidson brand took a hit back then when it was owned by AMF. That may be why HD CEO Jim Ziemer is now saying, “"We're going to show great discipline in protecting the value of the brand." If that protection is in the form of not adapting to market trends, I think we can expect more job cuts in the future. Harley-Davidson may become the marquee brand of ex-American motorcycles.
There hasn’t been much action here at ScootLancaster lately. There have been a couple fitful starts and stops. What have I been up to? Well, I thought I was going to get back into it here. Ironically, 2 hours later I found out that the guy in the cubicle next to me was let go and I would start covering for him. I have taken over his job, and that came with a long To-Do list. It also came with a trip to Autodesk University in Las Vegas.
While in Vegas, I rented a Honda 1300ST and rode out to Hoover Dam. It was fun, and great to be out in the sun on a bike during the first week of December. The Honda was really smooth and I loved the electric windshield. But it was heavy and really fell into corners at low speeds. It was great on the highway, but a little work in town. When I got back and rode the Versys again, it felt like a dirt bike.
Las Vegas is a town of highways, heavy traffic and monumental architecture. So it surprised me to see a number of scooters out and about. One local on a little scooter even engaged me in conversation at a stop light and jokingly offered to race me on the 1300.
At the keynote address of the Autodesk convention, they revealed this chopper. They claimed that it was, at the time, the largest piece ever created on a 3D printer. It was meant to show the state of the art in computer design and rapid prototyping.
I made it a point to get out and see the sights. I stayed at the MGM Grand, but spent a lot of time across the street at New York, New York. I saw the Bellagio fountains. I met an old high school friend who lives out there, and she showed me Fremont Street. I saw a show and gambled (for about 20 minutes). I had a blast, and hope to go back.
It looks to me that the scooter brand with the best line-up for 2009 is Kymco. I’d love to say that it was the classic Vespas, or one of the Japanese big 3 (or 4 if Kawasaki even imported one scooter) with their established reputations for reliability. Or even the American-based Genuine. But this Taiwanese company has you covered from 50cc to 500cc, retro to modern and sporty, even 2 or 4 stroke. Nobody else has that kind of variety. And everything in their line has a disc brake on the front, which is nice to get on a small scooter.
At the beginning of the line is the Sento 50 which is comparable to the Honda Metro. If you like the Yamaha Zuma, then take a look at the Agility, which comes in 50 or 125cc. Want something slightly sportier? Check out the Super 8 in 50 or 150cc.
The meat of their line is the People. It comes in 50 and 150cc versions, and then there are the S versions (with higher tech) in 50, 125, 200, and 250cc. All have 16” wheels, which would really smooth out the ride. All but the S 250 have big, flat floorboards. Only Aprilla has a comparable model right now, with its Scarabeo, but this is what the new Honda might look like.
In the maxi-scoot class, Kymco has the Grandvista 250 and the Xciting in 250 and 500cc versions. These are of the modern “origami” style like the Suzuki Burgman or the Yamaha Majesty.
In reputation, Kymco is often said to be just slightly below the Japanese brands, but still in their class, above the Chinese scooters. Their prices reflect that position in the marketplace, which makes them appear to be a great value. They are handled locally by Trans-Am in Lititz.
I was at the Washington DC Motorcycle Expo yesterday. Honda had the largest display area there. The new DN-01 was there and I sat on it. The DN-01 is a motorcycle with an automatic transmission.
Impressions? Meh. It's a crusier. The seating position is reclined. The thing needs a backrest.
The handlebars are drawn too far back for me. I'm not really sure to whom this will appeal, and for a radical new model, it wasn't getting much interest at the show. Meanwhile, there was a huge crowd around the two Goldwings.
There is a rumor floating around that Honda is coming out with a new 150cc scooter. I asked the representatives there about that, and they confirmed that Honda will indeed be bringing a new mid-range scooter to the American market soon. They said to check with your dealer in a month or two for details.
Election, recession, holidays, new position at work; blah, blah, blah, fishcakes. I’ve been busy. But a new year is here, and I guess it’s time to try and start this up again.
What will this year be like? Who knows. Last fall I was predicting that gas prices would rise again. Who could have seen that the bottom would fall out of… well, everything? Will scooters continue to be hot in a world where gas is cheap and consumer confidence is down? We’ll see.
Posts
All Comments
