The American motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson sold fewer motorcycles in the first quarter. Partly as a result of that fact, revenue and profit were lower than a year earlier.
Worldwide sales fell by almost 4 percent to more than 49,000 motorcycles. In the United States, by far the most important market for the company, sales fell by more than 4 percent. Turnover fell to almost 1.4 billion dollars, from more than 1.5 billion dollars a year earlier. The net profit amounted to 128 million dollars compared to 175 million dollars last year.
Harley is working on a performance improvement program due to the difficult market conditions for the company, also due to the import duties. The company maintained its expectation that 217,000 to 222,000 motorcycles will be shipped to customers this year.
President Donald Trump reported on Twitter in response to Harley’s figures that the company is struggling with European import rates. He stated that he would strike back against the European Union.
Lesley Woutersen, one of the co-founders of the EconomicInform gives away all of his free time to the project. He is interested in stock exchange and digital assets. Lesley can be reached by lesley.woutersen@economicinform.com.
