Authorized Harley dealerships continue to tumble like ninepins as changing market conditions continue to affect the network. One of the latest has been Brian Bentley's Brian's Valley Forge H-D (Norristown, PA.). Bentley is keeping his primary store open - Brian's H-D at Langhorne PA. - and is quoted as saying that the decision has nothing to do with COVID-19 and that he thinks he can continue to serve his catchment areas from the primary store.
PSB reports that authorized Harley dealership closures in the USA announced since June this year (for various reasons) include H-D Southampton, Greenfield, MA; Barnett's Las Cruces, NM; Calumet, Munster, IN; Goe H-D, Angleton, TX; Iron Town H-D, New Berlin, WI, and, controversially, Abernathy H-D at Union City, TN.
Just as H-D pulls its own manufacturing facility from the Indian motorcycle market, news that following a decline triggered by India's economic downturn in 2019, the market there has grown strongly this year despite the COVID-19 emergency. Market leader and H-D proto-partner HERO Motocorp has reinforced its market leadership there with sales up by +16.1% to 697,293 units for September alone. Honda India is in second spot, with newly minted Norton owner TVS third, KTM and Triumph partner Bajaj in fourth and Royal Enfield fifth.
As this edition of AMD went to press, PSB's Dave Mahon had additionally reported that owner Shelly Embrick had ended the 45-year relationship that her Cycle World of Athens, Georgia store has had with H-D. Embrick said the decision to part ways was driven by market sales and Harley's plans to "drastically" reduce the number of motorcycles it produces annually. The store will still continue to sell and service pre-owned Harleys along with new and used Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Polaris vehicles and remains a Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha and Polaris partner.
We here at AMD magazine were saddened to hear of the death of industry veteran, custom bike builder and 2020 Sturgis Hall of Famer Skeeter Todd.
Founded by lawyer Mark McCormack in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1960 with legendary professional golfers Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus as its first clients, the modern-day iteration of (now) New York City based IMG is a very different business. The now private equity owned global conglomerate's latest (but not first) brush with the powersports industry has seen it signing a new multi-year partnership with Russian owned MV Agusta - "to build a licensing program focused on brand extensions and lifestyle products that reflect the company's commitment to performance, quality, innovation and consumer engagement within local communities" and to "expand its presence globally through a new range of consumer products."
AMD was saddened to hear of the death of Carl Morrow of Carl's Speed Shop, Daytona fame. Carl opened his Speed Shop in Daytona in 1969 and was respected worldwide as a leading street, drag strip and Salt Flats performance engineer and tuner with records aplenty. Carl believed that the best performance was reliable real-world performance. His 2" CV Typhoon slide carb design is still spoken of in hushed tones and his friendship will always be valued by hundreds.
Speaking of Daytona, AMD sends its best wishes to Bill Dodge of Bling Cycles who is recovering from a horrendous motorcycle accident involving a driver who made a left turn in front of him. A former AMD World Championship competitor from the days when the event was staged at Sturgis, we wish Bill a speedy recovery. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with Bill's recovery.
H-D was in 7th spot in market share terms in Switzerland for the eight months to August, having sold 1,622 units, which was down by 9.44% over the same period in 2019. Indian Motorcycle is up to 10th spot in its European home market, selling 523 units through August. Yamaha is market share leader in Switzerland, ahead of Kawasaki, BMW, Honda, Triumph and KTM. The Yamaha MT-07 is the best seller there, ahead of the Kawasaki Z 650 and Z 900, the BMW R 1250 GS, and the Yamaha MT-09 in 5th spot.
Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, B&B, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek, electricmotorcycles.news, RideApart.com, Motor1.com