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Current President & CEO of Harley Davidson

5K views 26 replies 18 participants last post by  PAC MAN 
#1 ·
Some info on the current Chairman, President & CEO of Harley Davidson I found while surfing the web.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/business...iness-leaders-harley-davidsons-keith-wandell/

One comment he made stands out to me "We had too many dealerships, there was too much inventory and we had driven down the residual value of our products. Doesn't all of that sound familiar?"

Sure sounds alot like the situation GM had gotten themselves into before closing dealerships, bankruptcy, etc. At least HD didn't need a federal bailout.

But sadly this right-sizing does have an huge negative impact on the workers let go.

Sorry to be so somber, but I thought some would want this info on the current Prez.
 
#3 ·
You mean sadly this right-sizing does have a huge negative impact on the current workers. With all of the give backs and wage freezes it has a huge negative impact on, us, the buyers. Quality control aint what it used to be and we are the ones suffering for it. I think there are a lot of disgruntled workers building these bikes nowadays.
 
#4 ·
You're right Gary, it does have a negative impact on the remaining workers also! I have friends that are both still employed or recently let go at Harley...they're all pissed off for different reasons.

And if Harley hadn't sold so many cycles in the late 1990s and early 2000s (over 300,000 in some model year), maybe this reduction in bikes built/inventory would help the current resale price on slightly-used Harleys. But there's a glut of low-mileage Harleys for sale in this economy.

Oh well...its feast or famine.
 
#5 ·
#8 ·
I'm learning something new everyday.
 
#9 ·
Never get the real story from Fox. I have held HOG stock since 1972. Great returns. Stock split several times, crashed to 8 dollars a share in 08 to be back over 45 today. When it was 9 dollars I bought more.
 
#12 ·
I remember standing and listening to the speech about how HD had to cut costs so we could become more price competitive in the market place. This was priority ONE! Cutting work force numbers by more than 50 percent and replacing skilled workers with casuals, closing dealers (which Harley does't fund anyway), outsourcing parts that were U.S. made, and so on should have saved extraordinary sums of money. So why is it that the prices continue to take a healthy jump yearly. Cutting costs and raising prices does fatten the bottom line though, and I believe when reading your posted article it points to the large majority of his salary is based on exactly that.
 
#15 ·
Let the fun continue...altho I hope we don't lower ourselves to the level of hdforums.[/QUOTE]

I love my Harley and will always be thankful to the MoCo., and I'm sure changes need to be made. Just don't blow smoke up my ass about why it's being done.
 
#20 · (Edited)
I love my Harley and will always be thankful to the MoCo., and I'm sure changes need to be made. Just don't blow smoke up my ass about why it's being done.
The artikel sez he's Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO. I ain't no eggspurt in korpurate strucktur, but I reckon that meens he's in charge of blowing smoke up his own azz! :D
 
#17 ·
Let's not fool ourselves. HD is a public company, and has shareholders to answer to. All companies must focus on being profitable. I would hope that somewhere in their mission statement, it would say something to the effect of building a quality motorcycle at a reasonable cost, that holds its value. You can't argue with supply and demand. Yes, it might mean that we all pay a little more each year for a new bike, however, it also means that 5-6 years later, we can get a decent resale for our used bikes. This will be increasingly difficult for the MOCO to orchestrate, especially as more baby boomers hang up their riding gloves for good. Yes, it's true that more components are being made overseas, however, assembly and R&D (the two most important, IMHO) continues to be here. The company that I work for employs the same practices. You have to, in order to stay competitive.

There are at least 6 dealers in the metro Phoenix area. Do we need that many? Maybe. But having large inventories of motorcycles out there hurts everyone.

Mylo
 
#25 ·
hahahaha....the comments about hdforum rings sssoooo true. I hate that site and got so fed up a while back I decided to never return. And didn't for many months, but one day a couple weeks ago decided to check it out (morbid curiousity I guess). Same ole shit. I do find the touring section "ok", but rarely drop in there. I guess I've just lost my tolerance for BS?!?!?
 
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