Like many stories, all the information I collected for the Harley-Davidson story in this morning's edition wasn't able to fit.
So here are some tidbits that didn't make it in:
* Harley executives did have some good news to talk about in their earnings call with investors Thursday morning. At a 9.7 percent drop in overall sales for the first three months of this year, the company has brought its quarterly sales declines below 10 percent.
* Possibly more importantly, things could be a little worse for Harley, as executives also pointed out that they now sell more than half of all heavyweight motorcycles consumers sell in the United States. (Harley's market share went from about 49 percent in the beginning of 2008 to 57 percent in the beginning of 2009.) In other words, its heavyweight motorcycle sales are going down, but it seems others are dropping off far more rapidly.
* Early retirement was offered before the first round of job cuts in 2008 to workers, but only a few reportedly took the offer relative to the total number of cuts the company had planned to make. Now, with all the subsequently planned cuts, some are looking forward to retiring. Nettie Shirey, a 20-year veteran, told me that she had 64 days to go as of Thursday's job-cut announcement and that she feels lucky she has the option.
Keep checking back for more Harley-Davidson coverage.
Leave a comment