[1] Following on from our earlier post about the troubled times some H-D dealers are having……  The decline in large-capacity motorcycle sales on both sides of the Atlantic is putting an increasing number of Harley-Davidson franchised dealers out of business.

In the US, 36 Harley dealerships closed their doors last year, and Harley-Davidson chief financial officer John Olin say that he doesn’t expect the trend to abate this year. Here in the UK, three Harley outlets folded in the final two months of 2010 and more are reportedly struggling.

Commenting to analysts on the situation in America, Olin recently said: “This contraction was expected and in line with our desire to modestly consolidate our dealer network in response to lower overall volume since the economic downturn took hold.”

But Olin also claimed that dealers have been coping with lower inventory of new machines by selling more pre-owned stock. “Used bike sales in the dealer network were up double digits through November,” he added. “Despite dealers’ efforts to improve revenue and manage cost, their profitability has been impacted in the downturn. But we believe the US dealer network in aggregate remains profitable.”