“The success we saw with the launch of the Milwaukee-Eight engine is a sign of the innovation we have in place,” says CEO Matt Levatich. “We are confident our 2018 line will also help sales. I have never been more excited about the products in our pipeline.
Part of the plan includes adding foreign dealerships and introducing more Americans to the Harley lifestyle, Levatich said. In the United States, the company’s Harley-Davidson Riding Academy looks to teach people how to ride a motorcycle. Last year more than 65,000 riders were trained through the Riding Academy.
“We want to add more dealers overseas and grow riders here in the United States, reaching out to new markets including younger riders, women, African-Americans and Hispanics,” Levatich told the newspaper.
Meanwhile, the company says it intends to add 200 dealerships outside the United States by 2020.
For the fourth quarter of 2016, Harley-Davidson’s net income was USD47.2 million, or 27 cents per share, compared with USD42.2 million, or 22 cents per share, during the same quarter in 2015. Sales, however, were USD933 million during the quarter, down from USD1 billion during the same period in 2015. In the United States, sales fell 3.9%.
International sales are a bright spot for the company, with sales outside the United States increasing 2.3% in 2016. Harley-Davidson added 40 dealers around the world during the past year. The company shipped fewer motorcycles overall in the last quarter of 2016 to help dealers reduce their inventory, said John Olin, senior vice president and chief financial officer. The company is doing the same for the first quarter of 2017.
