What Harley-Davidson Exec’s Want For Christmas

Santa Wish List

Santa wasn’t good to the motorcycle industry in 2020.  It was the sort of year at Harley-Davidson where every week, you’d say “what just happened?” Soft sales and even negative growth along with company shutdowns then longer term layoffs followed by strategic plan “walk-backs” and then the high profile dumping of a Tennessee motorcycle dealer over racist Black Lives Matter posts followed by an ever discriminating consumer to boot.

Speaking of feet, did you hear that having footwear industry expertise is the new turnaround skill set for executives at the motor company?

As the motor company executives sit virtually in the Zoom conference room and wonder what happened to the year, I can’t help but believe there are some major things on their Santa wish lists.

So, I’ve followed the science (parody alert!) and highlighted below what I think a few of the top executives want for Christmas:

JOCHEN ZEITZ, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Harley-Davidson: Santa, I “charged” up and shorted out ex-CEO Matt Levatich on that EV motorcycle, but I got the head honcho job with the industry’s most iconic motorcycle manufacturer.  Did you know they have a cult-like following similar to my favorite thing — a Scottish Bailey guitar?  And to think that I’ve never even been photographed riding a motorcycle. I can’t think of anything more to ask for. Oh wait – listen up Santa, please help that Pan American be our rock star and displace BMW R 1250 GS Adventure bike sales. Santa, I need your help to move the company from The Rewire, to The Hardwire and now with marijuana being legal in Madison, my new strategic plan will be called The Higher Wire. Santa, I’ve never been to the White House for dinner and I wrote a book about my transcendental awakening with a Benedictine monk.  It’s my turn!  Please let the spinner land on my name. Lastly, can you help people forget about that botched “Gone Girl” firing of Michelle Kumbier and the $660K departure gift?

JULIE ANDING, Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer: Santa baby, it’s cold outside. It’s not a Christmas party. It’s a non-denominational Zoom holiday mixer. More inclusive. With my team of over 200 HR professionals (“I say H, and you say R”) streaming video around the world, I posted a fun memo about the decisions made at the company Zoom holiday party will have consequences that will haunt them for the rest of their professional lives. I’ve got doughnuts. I’ve got jelly and sprinkles, but not cronuts because they’re a bastard pastry.

AMY GIUFFRE, Vice President and Chief Communications Officer: Santa, please let 2021 be “If the dream is big enough, the facts don’t matter” — a.k.a. the Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf school of bubbling optimism to distract the media and bloggers with superfluous BS so they ignore our fundamental problems. As the motor company leader of the world’s foremost authority on brand marketing please let my cutting edge hoo-ha marketers develop a comm’s strategy that will last longer than Aquaman in theaters!

JON BEKEFY, General Manager Brand Marketing: What the font?  Please Santa, I’m seeking stoke so, let the famously irreverent Enthusiast magazine right a wrong, while I write a song on the largest number of variable text sizes and drawing types ever used in a print magazine. We commissioned a student that designed a flyer for the H.S. prom to perform the magazine eye test. I’m a huge fan of Gliko Modern and Gliko Modern Condensed with Body copy set in Freight Text.  Oooh, so many fonts and so little time. I’m rather preoccupied with condensing the regular widths of every page and reducing The Enthusiast page count to a total of three on the next spread.  Is Santa seeking stoke?

BILL DAVIDSON, Vice President of the Harley-Davidson Museum: Hey Santa, I’m still working here and I bleed black and orange. Did you know I’m the son of William G. “Willie G.” Davidson? Just because the pandemic has closed the museum, I remain busy creating ways to bring light and meaningful impact to motorcycle enthusiasts.  In fact, I sketched a new color book that has cryptic clues, puzzles to solve, and you can uncover a mystery through an interactive story adventure in the museum gallery.  We’re doing this in collaboration with The Pabst Mansion and the Pabst Brewing Company. Pass me a cold one!

GINA GOETTER, Chief Financial Officer: Santa it’s not my fault.  The prepared foods at Tyson Foods taught me a lot. Please let me milk this “new in my job” for just a while longer.  What do they expect?  Miracles on Juneau Avenue!  Doesn’t it matter that I’ve been here less time than ZEITZ?   I do have a motorcycle endorsement.  And, my calculator is newer than Jonathan’s!

JAGDISH “J.A.G.” KRISHNAN, Chief Digital Officer: Santa, it’s all hands on deck. Open. Click. Buy. At Bose, I helped close 119 retail stores after digitization and all I want for Christmas is to be that invincible-gungho digital hero and repeat the success for Harley customers. I’m calling it The Wired Buyer plan. It’s no longer about taking care of every person who walks through our doors – whether that’s helping with a problem, giving expert advice, or just letting someone take a break and listen to a great rumble.  We’re going all in online and will digitize the entire customer experience. Now where are those IBM server rooms on Juneau Avenue.

JONATHAN ROOT, Senior Vice President, Harley-Davidson Financial Services: Santa, I’ve been busy creating forecasting models, assessing risk in investments and ensuring all accounting activities comply with regulations, but I need a new platinum edition HP 12C calculator.  The minus button on my current Texas Instruments model quit working.

PAUL J. KRAUSE, Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Chief Compliance Officer: Santa, I’ll make this short and sweet.  Please tell us who is behind that NWHOG.com blog?!  We have an important legal document gift we wish to serve send over to the Northwest Harley Blog editor. By the way Santa, trespassing involves entering a chimney without consent, but by wishing for presents and sending letters we’re good to go on the legal front!

LUKE MANSFIELD, Vice President Motorcycle Management: I’m dreaming electric Santa. Think Serial Number 1! It’s a simple process that leads to a complex outcome, but I think I can optimize your gift delivery experience so you’ll be home for Christmas.  Sure you have the reindeer and elf idiosyncrasies, but consumer tastes are changing fast and they want those gifts immediately after they Open. Click. Buy.  Santa you need to adapt & disrupt.  By the way, we’re developing a new delicious lemon flavored drink for our motorcycle enthusiasts.  It’s called ‘Harley Harley‘ and will be a standalone new brand in the U.S.

BRYAN NIKETH, Senior Vice President, Product Development and Operations: Please make Indian Motorcycles go away like “Gone Girl” Michelle Kumbier.  We are tired of being embarrassed in our own backyard when it comes to American cruisers and we don’t want that company bragging about their superior performance anymore.  Santa, save the gifts for the laid off 70 employees in India because I’m flying over when the pandemic ends to discuss Harley’s continuing restructuring of the region. It’s the largest motorcycle market and the exit was hastily announced. Lastly Santa, can you find that blogger at the 105th Anniversary trying to take a photo during our plant tour. We ran his butt right out the building before he was able to take pictures of the lunch room, but the Six Sigma manufacturing team learned later we’re missing a crankshaft bolt.

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to the time when I can throw away my mask. Visiting all my family and sitting around the table sharing stories, eating good food and laughing together again.  And of course, getting on the motorcycle and riding across the U.S. at pandemic-free events!

Thank you for your readership during this past year. Merry Christmas, happy holidays and best wishes to you and yours in 2021.

Photo courtesy of the author.

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Lawrence G. Hund Promotion Fortifies The Command Center

According to a SEC, Form 8K filing, Harley-Davidson (i.e. acting CEO Jochen Zeitz) promoted Lawrence G. Hund to chief commercial officer and will be responsible for the global sales function including the company’s motorcycle Parts and Accessories, General Merchandise and Harley-Davidson Museum businesses effective today.

Hund will be responsible for building and supporting growth strategies, cultivating opportunities in new and existing markets, and increasing demand for Harley-Davidson products globally.

Lawrence G. Hund

I previously blogged about Mr. Hund back in 2009 when H-D re-hired him HERE.  He returned to Harley-Davidson from Tygris Commercial Finance Group, Inc. where he worked only 8-months as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Mr. Hund is 64, and has been the President and Chief Operating Officer of Harley-Davidson Financial Services (HDFS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Harley-Davidson, Inc. since 2009.

Jonathan Root, 46, vice president of insurance at HDFS, will be promoted to senior vice president of HDFS and take over Hund’s previous role.

Photos courtesy of Harley-Davidson and SEC

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Harley-Davidson CEO And CFO Sell Stock After Indian Launch

Coincidence? 

On Friday, August 9th, three days after the Indian launch, the Harley-Davidson Chief Financial Officer, John Olin sold 11,104 shares of HOG stock.  The stock was sold at an average price of $59.00, for a total transaction of $655,136.00. Following the transaction, the CFO now directly owns 12,702 shares in the company. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, at this link.

Just a couple of days later Harley-Davidson CEO, Keith Wandell sold 77,102 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.82, for a total transaction of $4,535,139.64. Following the sale, Mr. Wandell now directly owns 70,545 shares in the company.  Those stock options must be working out for him as he now owns three motorcycles; a Street Glide CVO 2011; Road King Classic; and Dyna Wide Glide. 

Well-heeled Riders

As is often the situation with an executive selling  stock it was likely in the pipeline for weeks prior to the actual sale.

But, after the Great Recession began, the lingering impact of the worst downturn in a half-century continues to deplete the standard of living on the middle-class American household.  Let’s face it, the big factor in the market for anything expensive nowadays is that the only people who have disposable income are the super-rich… and THEY have more of it than anyone has ever had in all of human history.

Sure it’s become trite to slam the rich and I’m trying not to be repetitive.

But, it’s not about being ostentatious:  the super-rich don’t care about impressing the rest of us, because they never see us. They glide from the gated community to the private jet to the island vacation home without encountering any “downscalers.”  They mix exclusively with the other super-rich, and those are the only people they care about impressing.

And that’s tough, because when you’ve got enough money to buy about anything that’s ever been made without a second thought, you have to realize that the guy living next door to your McMansion can buy it too.  So, you’ve just ordered a one-off custom color CVO with a turquoise ostrich-skin seat with matching hand-made gloves and boots?  He’ll give it a glance and say, “Not bad. I think I’ll get a couple for my kids to use when they’re home from prep school.”

So, if really you want to one-up your neighbors by owning something they can’t, your choices are restricted to items with a built-in limited supply, such as art works, and a U.S. Congressmen. Or in keeping with a narrower interpretation of that custom motorcycle style genre, just minimize the amount of tchotchkes on that bone stock H-D motorcycle.

Simple is the new chrome and when your well-heeled fellow riders guffaw, you just have to learn to smirk in a superior way and say, “I guess you don’t grasp the irony…”

Photos courtesy of Indian Motorcycle and Flickr.

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Harley-Davidson Q2’11 Financials

H-D announced Q2’11 financial results this morning.

In a word – Booyah!

By every financial measure Harley-Davidson generated improvements in the second quarter of 2011, with strong earnings growth, increased shipments and growth in its dealers’ new motorcycle sales both in the U.S. and globally.  Here are some of the stats that CEO Keith Wandell and CFO John Olin reviewed from Anaheim, CA. where the annual dealer meeting and new product launch was in progress:

• Revenue in Q2’11 was $1.51B (up 15%) with income up 36.8% to $190.6M
• Motorcycle shipments up 7,769 in Q2’11 vs. Q2’10; Motorcycle segment revenue up $204.6M (18%) vs. Q2’10
• Touring motorcycle shipments made up 38.3% in Q2’11; up 3.6%
• International shipments were 36.2% in Q2’11 vs. Q2’10 at 42.5%
• Shipment forecast for 2011 rose by about 8% and now H-D expects to ship between 228,000 and 235,000 motorcycles worldwide
• Market segment share (651+cc) is 53.8%; up 0.2% from 2010
• U.S. dealer network sales of uses motorcycles up 11% through May; Used bikes sales continue to firm up (meaning they offer the dealer a method to help offset the “sticker shock” of new bikes)

Did anything go less positive?  Well that depends on your viewpoint.  From a shareholder’s perspective it’s “Houston, we’re ready to throttle up”!   Stock price set a new 52-week high at $46.88.

As a rider/layman the touring motorcycle shipment increases were offset by the decreases in Custom and Sportster declines.  There were no age demographics quoted in the analyst call, but we’ve been told that typically “youngsters” don’t buy the higher priced baggers.  In addition, the new 2012 touring models that were announced earlier in the month have… shall we say… “lean” engineering innovation compared to previous years.  In a number of cases there we’re only paint palette changes and price increases made up the so-called “new” touring models.  There was about a 1% price increase in the U.S. market.  The lack of innovation is especially troubling (to me) given that product development spending was up $7M in the first half of 2011 which was described as a continuation of their strategy and focus on leaner engineering.  Sure metals and fuel costs are up, but the lack of stronger product changes is not always a recipe for long term success.

Nothing was noted on the call about the recent expansion in India.  Not sure why given that SG&A expenses were up about $13M on the strategy to grow 100 – 150 international dealers by 2014.  Latin America saw a decrease in retail sales which was largely due to all Brazil dealers being terminated.  There was a restart in that country and the new dealers (6) were coming up to speed.

Congrats to H-D on a great quarter!

UPDATE: Full transcript of the analyst call is HERE courtesy of SeekingAlpha.

Photo courtesy of H-D.  Full Disclosure: I don’t own H-D stock

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Harley Hires Bankruptcy And Exit Financing Expert

Lawrence G. Hund

H-D announced the hire (or is it re-hire?) of Lawrence G. Hund as President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Harley-Davidson Financial Services, Inc. (HDFS), effective June 29.  HDFS is a wholly owned subsidiary of H-D and provides wholesale financing to dealers and retail financing to customers.

Mr. Hund comes from Tygris Commercial Finance Group, Inc. where he worked the last 8 months as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Yes, you read that correct — EIGHT months!  With over 25 years in the commercial finance industry, Mr. Hund oversaw Tygris’ treasury, accounting, tax, planning and analysis and financial operations.   The company was founded in 2008 and from background research it reads as if the company was on a hiring binge of executive talent for much of last year with specialist’s in asset based credit facilities, turnaround and bankruptcy/exit financing to mid-market companies.  In addition, Mr. Hund was hired at Tygris after only 11 months as CFO of Bridge Finance Group.  Rotating through two CFO positions in less than 19 months may not mean anything other than validation of the malaise in the credit markets.  Both companies were deep in the banking and commercial finance sector and served the automotive industries.  Lastly, Mr. Hund was CFO of HDFS from 2002 to 2007 and it’s likely he was either instrumental to the negative asset quality/performance or deeply involved in setting financial strategies which accounted for over $3 Billion in debt at HDFS and nearly $1 Billion of debt at HOG at the start of 2009.

The lingering issues with the credit market and the recessionary economy will continue to haunt HDFS.  Let’s hope that Mr. Hund can create a leading commercial finance franchise and avoid using any of his bankruptcy skills!

Photo courtesy of Tygris.

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