The Motorcycle Industry?

There's a lot of truth in this. HSBC is dropping their Suzuki finance programs effective Jan 1. Kawasaki will likely soon follow. That leaves Yamaha and Polaris that I know of, and I doubt they last.

 

Actually, shops that are brick and mortar are doing well, too. Sure, the brick and mortar that have E-commerce are doing well, but again, the veteran shops that have been through these types of times understand what to do. The ones that came on board thinking motorcycles are the way to make fast money are the ones dying...

Also, if you are selling motorcycle parts to dealerships (you must be a distributor) and the sales starting taking a dump as early as July, I assume you aren't PU or TR... Whatever the case, the slow up has been from about September on. Our company is a national company that is at the top of the field and we were KILLING it up until September.

I'd say the smaller companies that are manufacturers and distributors are going to be hurting. Those that are established and used more frequently by counter guys (read as TR, PU, etc.) are going to be just fine. Maybe not stellar, but fine nonetheless...

 

Not quite. alot of folks after a while just fall of the radar since they give up on finding jobs and are no longer accounted for. Obviously it also doesn't include students, retirees, house wifes etc etc.

 

And you have folks such as myself that were given a decent enough severance that I won't be filing for unemployment for at least three (plus) months. I imagine that there are a number of people such as myself that aren't (yet) contributing to that number gleaned from unemployment registrations...

No need to pay more taxes next year than neccessary (unemployment checks are taxed, at least in CA. IIRC).

 

I agree with you. The point I was making is that there are still a lot of people employed and they still need to purchase goods and services hence my reference to customer service.:up:

 

I work at a bike shop and have friends who are dealers.The industry is dead except for a bit of xmas shoppers.

Close friend of mine at Barney's usually move 30+ units a month.He averages 6-8 a month now.All salesman have lost their salary and work on commission now.

I think things are going to get worse now.

 

Won't all this be resolved and sales skyrocket as soon as the MIC gets their series up and running in `09?

 

Ha! Thanks!

This will kill the weak and the strong will grow stronger from it.

 

From my days as a Service Manager, I will say this is a totally true statement.

-jim