The negative figures were a result of the company’s difficult situation on the U.S. market, where Harley-Davidson saw its sales drop by 24.3 percent in the first three months of 2010. The U.S. heavyweight motorcycle industry registered an overall sales decrease of 21.4 percent in Q1 2010.
In international markets the sales were down 2.8 percent, as compared to the figures posted in the last quarter of 2009. The Europe region posted a sales increase of 1.2 percent, Canada was up 1.5 percent, while the Asia Pacific region and the Latin America region were down 9.8 and 7.8 percent, respectively.
The company delivered a total of 53,674 motorcycles to dealers and distributors worldwide in the first quarter of 2010, as compared to 74,670 units in the first quarter of 2009.
However, the -24.3 percent overall figure represents a slowdown of the decline registered by the bike maker in the previous three quarters. In addition to that, the company’s financing arm returned to profit in Q1 2010 after three quarters of operating losses, registering an operating income of $26.7 million, an increase of $15.5 million compared to the same period of 2009.
"We are encouraged by our progress in the first quarter," said Keith Wandell, President and Chief Executive Officer of Harley-Davidson, Inc. "We are seeing directional improvement in our dealers' retail motorcycle sales as we enter the key selling season. At the same time, given the global economic uncertainty that still exists, we believe conditions will remain challenging throughout this year, and we will continue to factor that into how we manage the business."
Harley-Davidson expects its 2010 overall sales to register a 10 percent reduction, as compared to those posted in 2009, as it predicts that it will ship a total of 201,000 to 212,000 bikes to dealers and distributors in 2010. The company is still seeking a buyer for the MV Agusta brand.
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