Not only that but ~4 mil increase in revenue is chump change and may not even represent a steady growth in unit sales. It could simply have been flushing inventory so they are not stuck with costly loan payments.
Unlike H-D, Yamaha is not a one-trick pony. They have established lines of cruisers, sport bikes, dirt bikes, scooters and a lot of other things. Why would they stuff Buell in with their cruiser brand?
Milwaukee is thinking in next-quarter's-bottom-line terms, and they need cash to stay afloat. If Yamaha dangles a large enough wad, they'll jump. Buell's production is tied into H-D's because they were owned by H-D. With the plans in hand, Yamaha would be perfectly capable of tooling up a factory to make them, and I'll bet they'd supply new engines, too.
I'll turn the question around. Why would they stick it on a showroom floor next to an R1, R6 or FZ? For that matter, did they even get on board with their own twin when Honda had the RC51 and Suzuki had the TL? If for some reason they decided to start marketing a twin (why now?), they might think is should be sold to the same market as the V-Max. Plus Star has a very aggressive marketing program. BTW, it was just speculation, not even a prediction.
Unfortunately, I don't think the Asian four are any more inclined to take on this challenge at this time. You make it sound so trivial for Yamaha to instantly tool up a line and plug and play an engine. That would take a ton of cash to pull that one off and I doubt they are inclined to take that risk right now. Why would they even bother when they already have a line of well received sportbikes? It would make more sense for Polaris, who doesn't have a sportbike.
Robert-07-ST
I have 3 former engineering students and 2 current students working for Buell (one is on their race team). This is spectacularly bad news... for most of these kids this is all they wanted to do, ever.
"The decision will result in a reduction over time of about 80 hourly production positions and about 100 salaried positions at Buell. Employment will end for a majority of Buell employees Dec. 18, 2009."
http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/news/story.asp?id=1445
I am sorry to hear that, young people, well qualified and energized at the start of their careers...tough start, very tough start.
Agreed... can't wait to see what the "Pace Bike" will be, oh wait they nixed the rolling starts.
A BMW...Richie Morris Racing just announced that they inked Danny Eslick to a new contract for 2010. Wonder what type of bike he'll be riding
Robert-07-ST
And with that, Robert, I think you nailed the big picture. Here in my corner of the Midwest, a number of cycle dealerships have closed their doors and those that are still open definitely seem to have cut way back. (All the ones I know of personally were not H-D dealers, but single or multi-brand Japanese.) Bottom line, many (if not all) of the bike manufacturers already have shrunken dealer networks--and I don't think they're done shrinking yet. Now in addition, whether you liked the brand or not, the only mass-produced American sport bike line has been shut down. What next? I'm afraid to ask.The motorcycle industry is in a lot worse shape than some people think, especially HD ,there bubble has burst and with over 2500 employees loosing there jobs and dealers trying to stay afloat ,I am not surprised at any thing right now. But it is sad none the less.
Did you all hear what Blrfl said? I could hardly believe it, and I couldn't confirm it, but heck, that doesn't mean it couldn't be true...Well, that was fun.
Of course, just because we can't confirm it doesn't mean it isn't true.
--Mark
Nope, that guy on the FZ10A board (that I mentioned a few messages back) was called out on it. He got a good laugh and now the thread has been pulled. You guys were punk'd.
Well, just because you deny you said it doesn't mean it couldn't be true.I deny that I ever said that.
--Mark
I read it on the internet. :noway
