HD MoCo Kill Buell

VIN#removed · 10-15-2009, 02:46 PM

Here's the press release. The Buell line is dead.

Harley-Davidson USA | Company | NEWS | Press Release

sk8rod · 10-15-2009, 02:51 PM

damn,,

and selling MV also...

really dig Buells,, i am sure they will survive in some form tho,, but . . .

DAMNN!!!!!

FL · 10-15-2009, 03:04 PM

Every company out there are doing cuts of some kind or another.

Just glad to see they arent cutting HDs and keeping Buells.

sk8rod · 10-15-2009, 03:11 PM

well i tell ya,, MV have come up with some great bikes and their build quality etc is so cool,, just hope they find a buyer

Unimoose · 10-15-2009, 04:54 PM

That is tough news but unfortunately tough economic times call for tough choices. Look at what not doing anything did for GM!

joker · 10-15-2009, 05:37 PM

maybe fiat will buy them.

sirbOOm · 10-20-2009, 09:40 AM

I'm sorry guys, but I can't believe you're passing this off as an economic decision and that's that... done and done. It's the MoCo's fault 100% since about 6 years ago. Just as Buell gained legit degree respect amongst a growing and full-pocketed crowd within my generation, H-D drops it. What a thieving cop-out by H-D! That degree of respect I just mentioned was coming from Buell to H-D, as opposed to the other way around, which apparently H-D couldn't handle. Poor babies! I bought an H-D because the new, game-changing, reliable Buells made me trust a brand I never before trusted.

This is f'ing utter bull! Buell changes the face of H-D from outdated to "paying attention... finally". H-D made the God-awful mistake of trying to integrate the Buell riders with the H-D riders. Really? Common! They're two different sets of customers!

I'm embarrassed as an H-D owner and an American. It just goes to show H-D is listening to the wrong voices over and over. It's all well and good to want to sell H-Ds to the skater and Cali-rock crowd with this new line of advertising but unlike the biker rebels defined by the Hells Angels and Easy Rider-type movies, other people in my generation don't want to be a f'ing skater boy. That's too Avril Lavigne, dammit!

I don't give a crap about how expensive it would be to build the Buell brand independently, like it should be. H-D spent a decade underfunding Buell's marketing efforts. You don't f'ing tag team sport bikes to an established cruiser crowd! Even the XR1200 doesn't get loved at the aging H-D rally model! Even in Europe! People look, go okay... then head over to the baggers and choppers to look at pinstripes and chrome things. Then they go buy a $50 Hanes Beefy T. Not even Honda, Kawa, or Zuki co-promote their sport bikes with their cruisers to any legit degree. Duh!

The day H-D decided to have Harley and Buell events is the day Buell's death cert. was signed. Look at the dealerships that did well selling Buells. Separate sales force. Separate part of the building. Look at where most Buells are at dealerships. The back of dealerships on clearance being sold by an old fart with a long beard and a skull tattooed on his left arm. Well no sht they didn't sell! Wrong kind of representation!

sk8rod · 10-20-2009, 10:15 AM

to remain in the market place Buell needed a new engine.. there just wasnt the money to develop it..

end of Buell,,

and thats straight from a guy who knows Eric Buell himself..

selling MV etc etc

its belt tightening measures,, ending production for 3 months ( only 6 weeks effectively for Europe )

these are all hard ball ways to keep your name and market place..

HD has a hard earned rep and they simply dont fck about, they take the big decisions and they do it fast

125 mil to end Buell,, !!

Unimoose · 10-21-2009, 05:28 AM

The simple fact is the economic climate we are in is crippling the automotive and motorcycle industries as well as others. People don't have the money to go an buy expensive toys like they did 4 or 5 years ago. Companies need to recognize this fact and adapt or they will go under. Dealerships are closing because they can not sell enough cars/bikes/trucks/lawn mowers/what have you to make ends meet. That means that manufacturers aren't selling enough either and this isn't exactly new news. Last year my wife bought a new vehicle from one of the larger dealerships in our area. Their sales goal for that month was 52 cars. She picked up her car on October 30th, it was the 18th car they sold that month. I find it highly unlikely that over the next 24 hours the dealership managed to sell another 34 cars. That's just not happening in the automotive industry it's happening in every industry.

I have a friend who works at a very large dealership in NY. They sell everything from lawn equipment to ATV's to snowmobiles to Triumph and CanAm. Over the past 12 months they have gone from the brink of closing 4 times to barely back in the black. They have cut staff and done everything possible to cut costs but are barely hanging on by a thread. What are their manufacturers doing to try to help them out? They are trying to push them to buy more merchandise and put more units on the floor that the dealership will have to pay for whether they can sell them or not!

The simple fact is we are still several years away from finding out way out of this F'ing mess and it will be Darwin at it's best with only the strong companies surviving. To remain strong they will need to cut costs and get out of the business as usual model that got them into this trouble in the first place. Smaller companies that can't meet the numbers will litter the wayside like some Civil War battlefield and unfortunately Buell will be one of them. I liked Buell but not really enough to ever own one. Yes marketing a Buell to a typical Harley rider is stupid. That's like trying to sell a Ferrari to a guy who drives a full size pick up truck. Sure it's a cool car but how many sheets of sheetrock can I put in it? Buell should have been marketed to a younger market. Really how many 30 - 40 year olds do you see on crotchrockets? Most of your H-D riders are.... well more mature lets say... come with some more years of experience than your typical street fighter rider. Buell should have been set up in their own section of a H-D dealership with a wall in between the two with sound proofing so each could deny the other was there. Maybe Buell will be resurected from the ashes when the dust clears and come back bigger and better than before. Then again maybe it won't. Tough times call for tough decisions that are made with the head and not the heart. Good intentions don't pay my bills but somehow they do get you the Nobel Prize for Peace.

sk8rod · 10-21-2009, 07:38 AM

read today that HD lent out up to 3 billion ! and a lot has gone bad,, they are deep in the chit,,

they figure they are up for Gov bail out if needed,,

either way,, things are pretty gloomy...

hard to believe but the blood sucking bankers who created this chitstorm and well clear of it all, now making plenty of money again thanks to us bailing them out and have just announced record bonuses will be awarded !!

you couldnt make it up

fckers

sirbOOm · 10-21-2009, 08:50 AM

Bottom line is HD never cared to understand the sport bike market. No exclusive sport bike rider wants to be involved with Harley events... and that's all the advertising they really did. Then they sell them at HD dealerships staffed by Harley-types and not-a-one Buell rider. Recipe for failure. It's not the economy.

Unimoose · 10-21-2009, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirbOOm

Bottom line is HD never cared to understand the sport bike market. No exclusive sport bike rider wants to be involved with Harley events... and that's all the advertising they really did. Then they sell them at HD dealerships staffed by Harley-types and not-a-one Buell rider. Recipe for failure.

I will definitely agree with you here. It's 100% true they marketed Buell haphazardly at best. Your typical H-D biker type isn't the guy you are going to buy a Hyabusa from either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirbOOm

It's not the economy.

If it weren't for the downturn in sales and the tightening of the corporate belt Buell may have limped along tied to Harley for years which only would have been a disservice to both companies. Hopefully a company with marketing insight will pick Buell up, if not maybe when things turn around for H-D they can pick Buell up again and do it correctly this time around.

sk8rod · 10-21-2009, 09:05 AM

Buell is dead,, even Eric Buell has zero rights to the name.. its not for sale,, HD have killed it,,

no one, no one company can buy it...it aint for sale..

its dead.. finished, is no more,, pushing up the daises

Unimoose · 10-21-2009, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sk8rod

Buell is dead,, even Eric Buell has zero rights to the name.. its not for sale,, HD have killed it,,

no one, no one company can buy it...it aint for sale..

its dead.. finished, is no more,, pushing up the daises

So you're saying it's dead huh?

sk8rod · 10-21-2009, 10:07 AM

as dead as this Norwegian Blue i'm holdin

joker · 10-22-2009, 07:57 PM

its not dead, its just resting...

itileman · 10-24-2009, 07:21 PM

I believe the correct term is "mothballed."
The way they folded it up and tucked it away leads me to believe there's something planned in the future.
The only thing that really matters is the loss of jobs for the fine people who built these wonderful machines. Parts will be available for ten years (I'll only be 74 by then, but plan on still being able to ride - my chances will increase as medical science marches on and cell phones and latte's are outlawed in cages) and my local dealer is continuing to service the line.
Ride safe. See you out there.

sk8rod · 10-24-2009, 11:43 PM

Don't read to much into the ten year thing. It's a statutory requirement of any motor vehicle manufacturer by law.

Ya know I dig Buells a lot. Still gonna get one. But IMO they are now an ex parrot!

Ratty · 10-25-2009, 06:28 AM

It's not really that surprising they axed Buell; they've laid a ton of people off here in KC because sales are down and from what I gather from talking to a friend that was working there, V-rod production here has been suspended for the last quarter...

sk8rod · 10-25-2009, 06:49 AM

HD aint producing bikes full stop for three months,, because of the way stock is shipped we in euro land only get to be without a supply for 6 weeks,, but even so it has meant bikes are in very short supply and its knackered my dealer build thing til feb

v-rods are a big problem here for the dealers as they cant get them sold and they cant get any money for them second hand.. which is why i hope to pick one up also

Ratty · 10-25-2009, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sk8rod

v-rods are a big problem here for the dealers as they cant get them sold and they cant get any money for them second hand.. which is why i hope to pick one up also

They aren't exactly popular where I'm at either mate but then neither was the Buell... that said you still couldn't get a decent price new at the dealerships here and they are still trying to screw you over on used too although I haven't looked at Buell since HD axed them so I expect that's changed.

sk8rod · 10-25-2009, 12:14 PM

chatting to the boss at thames valley last saturday and he had no idea what to do with his buells,, didnt know the pricing structure etc,,

HD had told him he was gonna get told on monday,, so he had customers in that he couldnt sell to !!

sirbOOm · 11-19-2009, 04:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sk8rod

chatting to the boss at thames valley last saturday and he had no idea what to do with his buells,, didnt know the pricing structure etc,,

HD had told him he was gonna get told on monday,, so he had customers in that he couldnt sell to !!

I'll take one for gratis!

sk8rod · 11-19-2009, 04:28 AM

in the UK dealers, they are getting Buells and all Buell parts / clothing etc for up to 90% off..

its a mad feeding frenzy as everything Buell is just fired out,, they just want shot of it all

FLHTom1948 · 11-27-2010, 12:40 PM

[quote=sk8rod;91322]to remain in the market place Buell needed a new engine.. there just wasnt the money to develop it..

end of Buell,,

and thats straight from a guy who knows Eric Buell himself..

So, it's fair to say the H-D president just didn't see eye to eye with Eric Buell. Eric's vision of the perfect V-twin racer were simply never funded?

bosken · 11-27-2010, 01:01 PM

Whats the latest on this... there was a deal that Eric can start again soon right?

bosken · 11-27-2010, 01:03 PM

Found this on his site:

Motorcycles | Erik Buell Racing