Established in 1940, H-D of Bloomington, Indiana, has been sold by owners (since 1998) Carol and Jeff Stevens to Mark and Michael Forszt, who already own multiple other dealerships in Indiana - H-D of Kokomo, H-D of Valparaiso, H-D Shop of Michigan City, Hunter's Moon H-D and Indy West H-D. H-D Bloomington will remain at its present location for a couple of years until a new facility is constructed.
The latest data from CDK Global Recreation shows that dealerships that use the Lightspeed DMS on average have had a strong start to the first ten months of 2019. Overall revenue growth on average January through October exceeded +6%. All regions have experienced growth. PSB reports that the South was the big winner, with revenue from new and pre-owned unit sales, parts and service up +9.7 percent. The Midwest was up +7.3% and the Northeast +7.2%.
A month after Paul and Michael Veracka, owners of the Veracka family H-D dealer group, officially split the group between themselves, separating their ownership into two competitive entities, Paul Veracka has made the first acquisition to his roster of Harley stores, completing the purchase of Alligator Alley H-D near Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His current dealerships include High Octane H-D in Massachusetts, Motown H-D in Michigan, along with two other South Florida dealerships - Rockstar H-D and Palm Beach H-D.
The Ducati Streetfighter V4 was chosen by visitors as the 'Most Beautiful Bike of the Show' at EICMA ('Milan Show') 2019 - 36.7% of voters in the Motociclismo organized election declared Ducati's new super-naked bike to be the winner of the 15th edition of the award - the 10th time Ducati has scooped the award.
AFT has announced a multi-year extension to its media rights deal with broadcaster NBC Sport. There will be two race day telecasts, with the other events to be aired within one week. All events will be featured in one-hour telecasts with race coverage of AFT Singles, AFT Production Twins and flag-to-flag race coverage of the revamped AFT SuperTwins class. The DAYTONA TT and Buffalo Chip TT will air race day on NBCSN.
Polaris Inc. has granted more than $90,000 to off-road and all-terrain vehicle (ATV) organizations across the United States as a part of its T.R.A.I.L.S Grants program. The 10 non-profit organizations that were awarded a September 2019 T.R.A.I.L.S Grant received awards ranging from $5,000 to $10,000, totaling more than $90,000.
Pompano Beach, Florida-based online retailer Demon's Cycle has new ownership - Jason Dooley has purchased the 25-year-old company and announced major changes that will take place before the end of the year and early part of 2020. These changes include a new website, the hiring of a new customer service staff, the expansion of inventory, faster delivery services and more.
H-D was in fifth place in motorcycle market share terms in Switzerland for the first ten months in 2019 (1,978 units sold). Yamaha is market share leader there, followed by BMW, Honda and Kawasaki - all ahead of Harley. Indian Motorcycle is in tenth place, selling 469 units YTD, in its European home market. On low volumes, Royal Enfield is in 15th spot, with Zero Motorcycles 24th.
Canadian distributor and Corona, California based MTA Distributing owner Motovan has closed its Edmonton, Canada warehouse. Motovan had acquired Edmonton-based Steen Hansen Racing (SHR) in 2011.
Polaris Inc. announced a regular quarterly $0.61 per share cash dividend payable on December 16, 2019 to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 2, 2019.
