CycleTrader, a popular magazine and website that lets people list their motorcycles for sale, reports that its website business is up 46.7% in April 2008, compared to the same period last year.

They credit their recent website redesign, and the increase in demand for used motorcycles.

Earlier this month, I mentioned that NADA Guides reported a similar increase in its online service.

Read the full news from CycleTrader...
http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/33498/

Labels: Motorcycle Sales

For the second year in a row, Harley-Davidson dealerships made their customers more happy than any other brand of motorcycle dealer, beating out other trusted brands including BMW, Victory, and Ducati.

Pied Piper Management Company, LLC, based out of Pacific Grove, CA, published these findings today. The company, which is a marketing consulting firm that specifically caters to the motorcycle industry, ran a study of motorcycle shoppers at 830 dealerships nationwide.

Here's their "Satisfaction Index" for all brands they studied...



The numbers in (negative and positive) reflect their change from last year.

Harley-Davidson still led all motorcycle brands in more than 40% of the sales process factors evaluated by the study. Examples of sales process factors dominated by Harley-Davidson salespeople include asking for contact information, mentioning the availability of financing, asking for the sale, and giving compelling reasons to buy now. Victory salespeople led all brands for mentioning features unique from the competition and for focusing attention on three to five memorable product features. Ducati salespeople ranked first for addressing features and benefits relevant to the prospect and for offering a test ride.

The company went on to say that while motorcycle sales have been on the decline recently, a small number of dealers have been able to boost their sales by measuring and benchmarking their sales process, and making necessary tweaks. And that's basically what Pied Piper does, help dealers figure out where to make the tweaks.

Their study concludes by saying that overall, motorcycle salespeople fail to make basic communication points with their customers, such asking for contact information only 38% of the time, encouraging shoppers to return on 44% of the time, asking for the sale only 45% of the time, and providing compelling reasons to buy only 34% of the time.

Visit online...
Pied Piper Satisfaction Index

Labels: Harley Davidson, Motorcycle Dealerships, Motorcycle Sales

Motor City Harley-Davidson of Farmington Hill, Michigan, is having a sales promotion where anyone who buys a brand new 2007 Harley-Davidson motorcycle gets 10,000 miles of free gas.

Here's a snapshot of their website, which displays the promo in the upper-left corner...


I wanted to get some more specifics on how they planned to reimburse buyers for the gasoline. So, I called them up on the phone and spoke to their sales manager, Scott Wilson.

He said that Harley-Davidson has a mileage rating on each of their motorcycles. He simply takes the miles-per-gallon a motorcycle is expected to do, and divides that by 10,000, to come up with the number of gallons it takes to go 10,000 miles. Then he multiples the number of gallons by the average gas price in the Farmington, MI area, which happened to be $2.75 at the time the promotion started.

Scott said that "so a Sportster might go 55 miles per gallon, while a Dyna might go 45 miles per gallon". Let's say you bought a Sportster, that comes out to about $500.00 in free gas.

They give each buyer two choices in getting that discount...

• They can get that amount deducted from the sales price of the motorcycle, or


• They can receive a gift card from a gas station worth that amount. Scott said that Shell is the chain of gas stations they use for this promotion

Labels: Motorcycle Sales

Tim Kreitz blogs about the motorcycle cruiser market, advancing a question that Fred Rau posed in the April 2007 edition of Motorcycle Consumer News, is the cruiser on its way out?

While they still make up the bulk of US motorcycle sales, Fred points out that they are in the midst of a 4-year state of decline as a bike category. All this at a time when motorcycling is experiencing a 26-year high in popularity.

• Many people who already own cruisers, are now buying tourers as their second-bikes. That doesn't mean they got rid of their cruisers, it just means they own two or more motorcycles.



• Cruisers are largely recreational motorcycles; their sales rise and fall with the economy. A downturn in sales is more of a reflection of harder times than popularity. Higher interest rates is what's keeping consumers away from Harley Davidson, not lack of popularity.



• The sales of cruisers that Motorcycle Consumer News tracks are deliveries of new motorcycles to dealers, not necessarily sales to consumers. Moreover, they don't reflect sales of used motorcycles out of eBay, classified ads, etc.

Labels: Motorcycle Sales

Seems like used Harleys are getting harder to sell these days. Take my buddy Dave for example, he can't seem to sell his Anniversary Road King.

He's had it listed in several places, including eBay, and has received some bites, but no takers. And it's a really cool looking Road King. Check out all the photos on his girlfriend's website.

It actually has an H-D Anniversary edition, custom paint set, #96 out of 100, but he's also including the stock anniversary paint set. It's got ape hangers, tons of chrome stuff, stage 1 mod, and only 9,000 miles.

Granted, the price is higher than most Anniversary edition Road Kings, at $18,000, but then again, he's got tons of chrome and performance parts on it.

So what's the deal?

I suppose the 2007 Harleys, with their 96" motors and 6-speed gear boxes are making it really tough to sell older model bikes. The folks at H-D know their marketing pretty well, and know that existing Harley owners can't resist the temptation to buy a new bike.

Another reason is the price. You can already buy a 2007 Road King for the same price, and get a bigger motor, and a sixth gear. But if you plan to trick out a stock bagger to look like this, be prepared to fork out another $10,000 for the custom paint set, all the chrome, the performance parts, as well as the labor if you plan to have a shop do the work for you. At $18,000, this is actually a steal. But most people don't realize this.

If anything, I suppose companies like eBay and Cycle Trader are going to find big business as people try to sell their older model Harleys.

Oh, are you interested in making an offer on my buddy's bike? Call him at his work, Auto Doctor, in Temecula, CA. He owns the place. He repairs cars for a living, and also owns Dave's Performance Karting, a performance kart shop.

He's maintained this Road King all himself. He's a wrench, and loves to work on bikes, so he does all his own maintenance and upgrades. He's selling this because he already owns two other Harleys, and wants to make room in his garage for a new "project bike". It's a great Road King, runs like a raped ape, and attracts chicks everywhere it goes.

Labels: Motorcycle Sales

The Motorcycle Industry Council released sales figures for motorcycles in 2005, showing once again, that the popularity of bikes continues on.

1992 - 278,000
1993 - 293,000
1994 - 306,000
1995 - 309,000
1996 - 330,000
1997 - 356,000
1998 - 432,000
1999 - 546,000
2000 - 710,000
2001 - 850,000
2002 - 936,000
2003 - 1,001,000
2004 - 1,063,000
2005 - 1,116,000

The MIC said that the "zenith year" was 1973, when more than 1.5 million bikes were sold, following the commercial success of the film "Easy Rider".

MIC President Tim Buche cites fuel economy as a key reason why motorcycle sales continues strong...

"Rising fuel prices are just another reason that millions more Americans have purchased a bike, or are seriously considering one. With many motorcycles capable of 50 to 70 miles per gallon, and many scooters getting 60 to 80 mpg, dealerships and manufacturers are fielding a lot more inquiries about fuel economy."

Labels: Motorcycle Sales

USA Today reports sales of motorcycles in the United States topped 1 million units for the second straight year, and pushed sales up 5% from the previous year.

They also noted that that the average age of motorcycle owners has been rising, reaching 41 in 2003. In 1990 the average age stood at 32. Most riders were married and a third were college graduates.

Meanwhile, motorcycle registrations in the UK fell 14% in 2004 compared to 2003, based on figures from the Motor Cycle Industry Assocation.

Labels: Motorcycle Sales, Motorcycle Statistics

Yamaha Motor Co., the second largest motorcycle builder in the world, announced yesterday that it is forecasting a 15% increase in worldwide motorcyle sales. Sales are increasing at a fast pace in Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe. Sales in Japan are expected to drop.

The record forecast comes a month after Yamaha announced that it has partnered with Chinese companies to build motorcycles for them.

Yamaha is aiming to sell one out of every five motorcycles sold in Asia by 2008.

Labels: Motorcycle Sales, Yamaha