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As Harley-Davidson dropped its Q4 results from 2023 last week, there were lots of interesting threads to chase down. Some highlights: Harley-Davidson shipped more bikes in 2023 than 2022 (34,000 vs. 28,900). The company’s quarterly profit was higher than expected ($39.7 million, which works out to $0.28 a share vs. the predicted $0.06 a share). And, the CEO says the made-in-China X350 models will not be sold in North America as street-legal machines, although they’re going to be shipped here.
Before the meeting, we knew that the Chinese-built 350 was coming to the US, thanks to leaked images and government regulator documents. On the Q4 results call, H-D big boss Jochen Zeitz confirmed that the X350 was coming, but in North America it’s only for riding schools. This is a much bigger market than you might think, and with Harley-Davidson’s emphasis on in-house schools, it needs a low-cost bike for riders to use. With no EVO Sportsters being sold anymore, and the Street lineup long gone, there are no low-priced Harley-Davidsons for learners to bash around on a cone course.
The Street 500 is particularly worth mentioning in this conversation, as it previously held the role as H-D’s school bike, and its departure from the lineup leaves a big hole for Harley-Davidson to fill in that role. The Street 750 did get a bit of a following among H-D owners as the hot-rodded versions were released, but the 500 was not a very good bike, and as an actual street ride, was unpopular. Opinion was sharply divided on the X350, with many of the Harley faithful not keen on the machine, and it seems they’re just going to avoid potential trouble, and keep the bike on the training grounds.
However, Zeitz didn’t say anything about the plans for the 350 in overseas markets. Expect to see it sold in places like China and India as a street-legal machine.
What about LiveWire?
Harley-Davidson’s electric motorcycle spin-off only shipped 69 bikes in Q4, as opposed to the 186 LiveWires shipped in 2021’s Q4, but over the year, LiveWire shipped 597 bikes, up 136 machines from 2021’s numbers. That’s probably good news, once you weigh it all out, especially when you consider LiveWire’s goal was to ship 500 bikes. But, we have some tough news on the S2 Del Mar street tracker. LiveWire originally planned to ship this machine in spring of 2023, and now that’s been delayed until the second half of the year, which the company expects will have a “meaningful impact” due to the seasonality of bike sales. Stay tuned on this one.
What about the Pan America 975?
From the paperwork we’ve seen, Harley-Davidson planned to launch the Pan America 975 by now, and hasn’t. This wasn’t mentioned in the Q4 call or following Q&A. Our best guess? We’ll see it launched later this year.
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