Harley-Davidson posted a sharp drop in profit for the fiscal first quarter. According to what was communicated by the American company this Wednesday, April 27, nothing went well at the beginning of the year.
In the first three months, Harley-Davidson sold less, earned less and now projects less revenue for the rest of 2022.
The causes: the Obstacles in the global supply chain and rising prices of all its inputs due to the impact of inflation.
The company that is about to celebrate 120 years of life leading the premium segment of motorcycles, faces a sharp increase in the costs of raw materials and logistics services, phenomena that will impact the rest of the year, as revealed by the company in your last report.
The data from the beginning of 2022 contrasts with the “signs of life” that the company was giving in 2021.
Last year, the brand had improved its performance after a long period in the financial “darkness”.
It’s more, It was thought that his days were numbered.
A new marketing approach focused on its higher-end motorcycles (leaving other products aside) and the exit of markets where it had landed and did poorly (India, for example), seemed to clarify the panorama of Harley.
However, the first data for 2022 are not encouraging.
Two years ago, after eight straight reporting periods of plummeting sales, Harley “reset” its marketing strategy and focused on its Touring, Cruiser and Trike models.
These are products aimed at a target of customers over 50 years old, with high incomes and who live in the United States and Europe.
It was the strategy chosen to save its serious structural problems and everything indicated that it would be positive.
The problems of the brand, basically, were based on the fact that its former consumers they got old and they don’t buy motorcycles anymore.
The other topic: New customersmost of them millennials, are not attracted to Harley-Davidson especially because of the high price of its products.
In short, a UBS study published in 2019 on the premium motorcycle market explained the situation well. According to the responses of those surveyed, those over 50 years of age consider that riding a motorcycle is no longer “a thing of my age” and young people, meanwhile, want cheap vehicles.
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