Buell closing?

Hi

In the german group de.rec motorrad i just saw this:

http://www.buell.com/en_us/

A joke or is it true


Bernd

 

If it's on the intanet thingy it must be true ;-)

 

Ain't no doubt. Bastards.

 

you can see his heart breaking in front of you..

another reason to hate HD, backwards thinking morons

mh

 

Also reported here

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/uptospeed/2009/10/harleydavidson-terminates-buell-brand.html

 

October 15th 2009

NEW YORK (AP) -- Harley-Davidson Inc. said Thursday that its third-quarter
profit slid 84 percent on fewer motorcycle shipments and recession-related
difficulties in getting loans for its customers.

The motorcycle manufacturer also plans to stop making Buell motorcycle
products and will sell its MV Agusta division as it looks to concentrate
efforts more on its namesake brand.

''We believe we can create a bright long-term future for our stakeholders
through a single-minded focus on the Harley-Davidson brand,'' CEO Keith
Wandell said in a statement.

The Milwaukee-based company will sell off its remaining Buell inventory,
including motorcycles, accessories and apparel, through its authorized
dealerships while supplies last. Dealerships will continue to provide
replacement parts and service for Buell bikes, with warranty coverage
continued as well. The line's closing will likely result in a $125 million
one-time cost for Harley-Davidson, with approximately $115 million expected
this year.

The move means about 100 salaried workers and about 80 hourly positions will
be eliminated, with most of the cuts occurring by Dec. 18.

Shares fell 80 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $25.46 in electronic premarket
trading.

Harley-Davidson -- which has already implemented production and job cuts
this year -- earned $26.5 million, or 11 cents per share, for the period
ended Sept. 27, down from $166.5 million, or 71 cents per share, a year ago.

Quarterly results included a $14.2 million, one-time fixed-asset impairment
charge for Buell and an $18.9 million goodwill impairment charge related to
its plan to sell off Varese, Italy-baesd MV Agusta, which is known for its
sport motorcycles.

Accounting for Buell and MV Agusta, Harley-Davidson now expects
restructuring charges of $215 million to $245 million between 2009 and
2010 -- a $55 million increase from its prior forecast. Annual savings from
the restructuring efforts are targeted between $140 million and $150
million.

Third-quarter sales dropped 21 percent to $1.12 billion from $1.42 billion,
but its retail motorcycle sales decline of 21.3 percent was not as steep as
the previous quarter's 30.1 percent dropoff.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, whose estimates typically exclude
one-time items, forecast profit of 21 cents per share on revenue of $1.1
billion.

Harley-Davidson said the economic downturn has crimped the retail and
wholesale loan performance of lending arm, Harley-Davidson Financial
Services. The unit has struggled as tighter credit markets have made it
harder for customers to get loans and it has had a difficult time bundling
and selling ''securitized'' loans, which it has relied on for funding.

The financial services division posted an operating loss of $31.5 million
for the quarter on increased interest expense and a higher provision for
credit losses in its retail and wholesale portfolios.

Harley-Davidson also narrowed its full-year motorcycle shipment
expectations. The company now anticipates shipping 222,000 to 227,000
Harley-Davidson motorcycles to dealers, including 35,000 to 40,000 during
the fourth quarter. Previously, the bike maker estimated it would ship
between 212,000 and 228,000 motorcycles to its dealers and distributors
worldwide for the year.
Buell Motorcycle Co. plans to shut down its East Troy plant during November
and December, resulting in the temporary layoff of 50 employees.
Buell, a subsidiary of Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG),
will pay eight days of holiday pay for the remainder of 2009 and will
continue medical benefits during the shutdown, according to a notice filed
Sept. 8 with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.
Buell did not indicate a reason for the temporary shutdown in the filing.
Parent company Harley-Davidson is temporarily halting production at its
Wauwatosa plant and other factories for 14 weeks, including the entire
fourth quarter, to realign production with reduced demand for motorcycles.
Buell's last day of production will be Oct. 30. Workers are expected to
return to their jobs on Jan. 4, 2010.
The employees are not represented by a union.

 

I hope he goes on to found a new company building new and better bikes
using modern engines.

 

Why would you hate HD? What have they ever done to you?

Nev..

 

I'd agree - very shortsighted business strategy. Given the primary
demographic for the core business is aging and they've not been very
successful at repositioning to a younger demographic (who tend to buy
sports bikes), I'd call it outright dumb. They need to be diversifying
their revenue streams to make them more resilient not reducing them.

On the plus side at least I won't have be embarrassed by who owns the
manufacturer of my bike soon - it'll probably get sold to Zongshen or
Tata

JL

 

Good designs badly made/bad designs propped up by cult status. Take
your pick, but bells seem to be ringing. A familiar sound?

 

I think that bell you're hearing is Big Ben...

JL
(but then I've been predicting the demise of Hogly for near a decade
and been proved wrong by the Baby Boomers keeping up their love affair
with Easy Rider etc)

 

I just wonder at the decision unless they have other intentions for the
longer term future
which is how Buell go started
Of course it makes the existing ones a classic and worth more
even mine

 

That loud huh?
The flow of baby boomers moving through "dreams of Misspent Youth"
must have peaked by now, so this cult business must be turning into a
rather shaky prop for the feets forward market. Things like
performance, distance reliability, endurance over time, comfort -
stuff that Japanese manufacturers recognised all those decades ago -
have got to be revisited. HD in the list of great names that could not
cut it..? A prospect that might become realty if good decisions are
not made soonish.
Like others, I'm not sure if the Buell decision qualifies as good
though.

 

HD will always do well. As we speak there is a whole new generation of cashed
up bogans, lesbians and accountants who want to hard men queuing up to buy
their product. The bikes are a sideline anyway. Their main business is
t-shirts.

Fraser

 

You may own the T-shirt
But,
do you own the bike ??

 

Sounds like a Harley to me...

 

Very few people do. I'd pin the number at less than 5% if I had to guess.

Fraser

 

In aus.motorcycles on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:04:37 -0700 (PDT)

I have a 70s mag which has a whinge about Harleys and born again
bikers and well heeled wannabe rebels and how HD is going to go out of
business when they die off...

HD damn near did too, then managed to get the Evo motor going, and
sprang to life.

Don't write 'em off until they really have died.

*every* manufacturer is going to find that there aren't as many people
buying bikes anymore as the baby boom bulge dies off.

Are people under 25 buying bikes in any numbers? If not, will they buy them when
they are over 25? And what will they buy?


Zebee

 

Then they would be 5 times better than the 1% club ??

 

Vintage model Buells