Harley Davidson's profit slumps 94 per cent

Dietmar

30.01.2019

Image copyright Harley Davidson/ FactoryThe latest figures from US manufacturer Harley Davidson are even worse than analysts have suggested. The stock fell another seven percent after the quarterly results were announced, after losing more than 30 percent in 2018. The main reason for the poor data is weak sales in the home market of the USA. Revenues here fell 9 percent year-on-year to 955 million dollars compared to 2017. Harley Davidson's net profit fell from 8.3 million to 0.5 million dollars. This means a drop of a whopping 94 percent.

Harley has been struggling with an ageing clientele for a long time, and the model range is apparently no longer attractive to younger people. Now in Milwaukee, they want to counteract this with electric motorcycles. However, Harley still expects weak sales of about 220,000 machines in 2019. That would be the lowest sales in eight years. Due to the planned relocation of production abroad, Harley was also the focus of the US government. US President Donald Trump was so upset that he even called for a boycott of the Harley Davidson brand. Harley Davidson was founded in 1903 and is one of the oldest motorcycle manufacturers in the world.