After a Covid-era sales boom that led owners to undertake expensive showroom upgrades, years of falling sales and rising costs are pushing many dealerships to the brink.
There are few things more evocative of the free American spirit and the nation’s wide-open spaces than the image of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle zooming down a stretch of empty highway. But while taking one of the legendary hogs for a spin may still be liberating for riders, the company’s independent dealership owners are feeling an increasingly tight financial and business squeeze.
A rash of reports in recent weeks have sounded alarms about the troubles Harley dealers face, and the rising number of dealerships closing shop as a result. While Harley-Davidson still counts over 650 of those locations in operation across the U.S., specialist automotive media warn that those numbers have been significantly decreasing as sales of the beefy motorcycles decline, and dealer operating costs grow.
“I hate to admit this, but there are too many dealers for the number of new vehicles that are being sold today,” second-generation Harley dealership owner George Gatto told the motorcycle publication RevZilla. “Margins on the new bikes are the worst we’ve ever seen … They’re not making any money.”
As a result, owners of a growing number of Harley-Davidson dealerships have hung the “Closed” sign for good. Those include some well-known, high-profile stores in New York City and Florida, and the century-old Dudley Perkins location in San Francisco. But reports say many more closures in smaller cities and towns across the U.S. drew far less attention while adding to the tally of shuttered businesses.
Young people today have no knowledge or respect for the power produced by the internal combustion engine. The sound of a Harley Davidson is just noise to them.
harleys might be assembled in york pa but the components are sourced from all over the world including mexico, china, india, etc. #1 they aint worth the asking price of $24K to $40K. #2, I shouldnt have to take out a small loan to afford their gear just to ride around and pretend I’m some badass even though I work in a cubicle all week! #3 tired of seeing hogs on the back of them! Just like cadillac found out the generation that would buy them is getting a little long in the tooth and those demographics are a death knell (literally). I’d put $40K towards a nice exotic car before buying one of these nickle gumball machines!
If you work in a cubicle all week 656, you are not a badass
He could be………..like maybe on weekends.