Harley-Davidson Dealers Worried About Their Future As Sales Tank

Dealers of Harley-Davidson have continued to ring alarm bells even after the American premium bike brand announced its tie-up with Hero MotoCorp only last month.

The reason for that is owners of the 33 exclusive Harley-Davidson dealerships in India are worried about their future as sales have tanked.

Most of Harley’s sales in the nation came through the Street 750 which accounted for 70-90 percent of the products retailed in upcountry and metro markets. But the issue is that the bike has been out of production for more than a month now.

Some Harley-Davidson dealers claimed that continuing with many recently opened showrooms may not be viable, especially in smaller towns and metros including Bengaluru and NCR.

Earlier, dealers managed to sell 20-25 units a month, which has now come down to single digits. Some had even revamped their outlets at the beginning of the year as Harley had firmed up plans to increase sales.

Many Harley-Davidson dealers are worried because they do not see the Street 750 coming back anytime soon and a product from Hero-Harley is also at least couple of years away.

Some even say that the number of Harley dealerships will be reduced by more than half to 13-15 outlets and that the network will operate much like when the company was dependent on CBUs and had only nine or 10 dealerships.

Thus, dealers are of the opinion that they need to be compensated for the investments made or margins increased to sustain operations.

Both Hero and Harley have not provided any concrete solutions to the issue at hand. With their partnership only a week old, they would naturally need time to sort out every possible issue at hand or that may arise.

But, Hero has assured that all specific details with regard to the transition process will be worked out in due course of time.

An official communication from Harley-Davidson is expected this week and it is likely to provide solutions to the issues that dealers face.