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Monday 30 December 2019

News Briefs




H-D maintains its "robust" approach to delivering "shareholder value" with the declaration of a cash dividend of $0.375 per share for the fourth quarter of 2019. The dividend is payable December 27, 2019 to shareholders of record of the Company's common stock as of December 16, 2019.

 


At the beginning of December, with 10 months still to go, official entries for the 2020 AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building are at 65 bikes from 55 builders representing 23 countries. 

Polaris is to recall certain 31,987 2015-2019 Slingshot motorcycles as excessive current may damage the fuse holder - damaged terminals may result in the loss of forward and rear lighting, instrument cluster gauges, or power steering assist.

 


Royal Enfield watchers may be interested to know that they are up to 11th place in market share terms in Germany for the first ten months of 2019. They sold 1,523 units for a fast growing 1.40% share.

Orlando, Florida based 'community garage' Standard Motorcycle is closing down. Founder Jason Paul Michaels said "we will be back" after announcing that they had lost their building and that the search was underway for new premises.


 


Following the news that long-time MIC stalwart Tim Buche was to retire from his posts as the head of the American motorcycle industry organization, it has now been confirmed that Erik Pritchard has assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer and President of the MIC and its 'sister' organizations - the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America (SVIA), the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF), and the Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association of America (ROHVA). Pritchard joined the associations as general counsel in March 2014 following more than a decade supporting the associations as outside counsel on a variety of litigation and non-litigation matters. He was named President of SVIA and ROHVA in 2017.

The U.S. Women's World Trophy team won at the 2019 FIM International Six Days Enduro (ISDE); the American XC Gear team won the Club division; the U.S. Junior World Trophy team finished runner-up. The 94th edition of the off-road competition, the longest-running world championship in motorsport, took place at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao, Portugal, in November. The USA last won the World Trophy title in 2016, its first ISDE world title. The USA had not won the Women's World Trophy title since 2007, the year that division debuted.

H-D is sixth in market share terms in Germany, having sold 9,826 units in the ten months to October. BMW is market share leader (27.05%), having sold 23,906 units. Harley's top seller in Germany YTD has been the Street Bob (the 18th most popular motorcycle in Germany, 1,182 sold), followed by the Sport Glide (836 units sold) and the XL 1200 X (756 sold). Harley has six models among the 50 most popular in Germany through October 2019.

H-D was in seventh place in market share terms in the UK in October, selling 374 units; the Low Rider S (42 units) was its top seller. The custom style market is -7.9 YTD through October (7,049 units). The largest sector in the UK is 'Naked' style bikes (31,140 units sold YTD, +2.2%), and in October, the Royal Enfield Interceptor INT650 was top dog (136 units sold).


Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, B&B, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek