[Bluehighways]

Harley-Davidson removes president of global brand development Neil Grimmer.

That was a rather short tenure.

Oh well . . . he musta done something really ugly.

https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/harley-davidson-removes-president-of-global-brand-development

 

[wing-renter]

Glad HD recognized that he wasn't working out and showed him the door.

 

[jtdunc]

So sad as they need great leadership now.

What does a organic baby food entrpreneur know about motorcycles? Bad hire from jump.

On top of that poor hire, they are having problems launching the LiveWire as it is having battery charging problems too:

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/...or-problem-with-the-harley-davidson-livewire/

"Harley vaguely described the issue as a glitch in the final quality checks, according to Reuters. The firm quickly asked existing customers to charge at their nearest dealership, not at home, while it looked into the matter."

They have restarted production but their credibility is still impacted. You pay all of that money and had to ride to the dealer to charge your bike??????

Should have had Elon Musk help or advice.

 

[Elwood]

Seems like the Moco can't do anything right lately.

 

[Sladep]

Based on this CV, I can't imagine a worse cultural fit going into the moco. For a board to have to admit the mistake and fire a senior exec in only 5 months, the cultural clashes and inappropriate behaviors must have been outrageous. Here's the article proudly announcing his joining the moco. Sad to see them floundering so badly.

https://www.bizjournals.com/milwauk...vidson-hires-entrepreneur-grimmerto-lead.html

 

[Sladep]

Wow, this gets more interesting. Grimmer's experience is only in start-up companies with only tens of millions in revenues. H-D's revenues last year were on the order of $3.4B. That's like going from your first game of T-ball to the Indy 500, including changing levels from amateur to pro, and industries you know nothing about. The other interesting point in Motley Fool's article is that NONE of the MoCo BOD members have ANY motorcycle industry experience whatsoever. This explains why this Grimmer was hired. Ohhhhh boy.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/04/25/what-does-harleys-new-global-brand-president-bring.aspx

 

[Zee Fifty]

What does a organic baby food entrpreneur know about motorcycles?........

Making $40,000 CVO’s for the AARP crowd is pretty much the same thing as making baby food. Just another form of adult day care.

 

[murf]

Making $40,000 CVO’s for the AARP crowd is pretty much the same thing as making baby food. Just another form of adult day care.

There are some riders a lot younger compared to the AARP crowd that are buying CVO’s.

:doorag:

 

[jm21ddd15]

motorcycle industry, nation wide, is a very tuff business, today. Several companies are not doing as well as they hoped. Older generation already has a cycle or two, and the younger crowd, would rather spend their $$ on a new, faster cell phone, every year, and a new lap-top. Hope they pull their heads out of their "electronic gadgets", or things will get even dimmer for the cycle industry, as us old timers, either give up riding, or pass away.

 

[Corventure]

For those of us who may remember... this sound so much like what happened to Eastman Kodak, on a managerial level!:surprise:
My family was a generation of Kodak employees. All gone now!


Corventure Dave

 

[metalman]

Perhaps they let him go because he didn't have enough tattoos, not enough hair, and no beer belly.

 

[GL1995-2018]

He got caught in a Honda store, shopping for a GL .

The HD bandanna, pants, boots, gloves, eye-wear, shirt, jacket, belt, rings, wallet, socks and jewelry gave him away.

 

[T-88]

Why is this even a story?

Executives get fired all the time.

Tim

 

[Bluehighways]

For those of us who may remember... this sound so much like what happened to Eastman Kodak, on a managerial level!:surprise:
My family was a generation of Kodak employees. All gone now!

Another example would be the hiring in 1994-2001 of Ron Zarrella, the Bausch & Lomb President, as Executive Vice President of General Motors. The results were predictable. One could make comments to the effect that the GM Board couldn't "see" what was wrong with this selection and that Ron simply didn't have the "vision" necessary for such a different industry.

 

[jtdunc]

Executives typically do at least 18 months before seeing the door. It's important news as some of are H-D owners and if H-D goes down, it can affect all of us. Motorcycle laws and insurance for example.

 

[T-88]

Executives typically do at least 18 months before seeing the door. It's important news as some of are H-D owners and if H-D goes down, it can affect all of us. Motorcycle laws and insurance for example.

I don't want to be argumentative; I'm just trying to understand. . .

If Harley-Davidson were to fail as a company (god forbid; nobody here wants ANY motorcycle company to fail), how would that affect motorcycle laws and insurance?

Tim

 

[jtdunc]

If one of the largest motorcycle manufacturers goes down, that over time will reduce the number of bikers buying insurance, smaller AMA, reduced lobbying power and on unless they are willing to buy Indian, Japanese or German bikes. It will cascade down to us with a ripple effect. Think about the 1970s and those tiny little Japanese cars and now. Together We are stronger.

 

[T-88]

If one of the largest motorcycle manufacturers goes down, that over time will reduce the number of bikers buying insurance, smaller AMA, reduced lobbying power and on unless they are willing to buy Indian, Japanese or German bikes. It will cascade down to us with a ripple effect. Think about the 1970s and those tiny little Japanese cars and now. Together We are stronger.

I have another spin on the ripple effect, should Harley Davidson fail.

The customers who would have bought Harleys will buy from another manufacturer. There will still be the same number of riders, just riding different brands. That means there will also be the same number of riders buying insurance and the same number of AMA members.

Regarding the 1970s, isn't competition in a free enterprise system supposed to be a good thing? Those tiny little Japanese cars caused other manufacturers to drastically improve their build quality, reliability and longevity.

I whole heartedly agree with your statement "Together we are stronger." We motorcyclists are all better off if Harley and all other motorcycle manufacturers thrive. We motorcycle enthusiasts all benefit by having a strong world wide motorcycle industry.

I guess you and I disagree on the potential ripple effect on the U.S. should Harley Davidson fail, and I will leave it at that.

Respectfully,

Tim

 

[LarryM]

I don't want to be argumentative; I'm just trying to understand. . .

If Harley-Davidson were to fail as a company (god forbid; nobody here wants ANY motorcycle company to fail), how would that affect motorcycle laws and insurance?

Tim

Good point. Reality is that it won't affect either one even the slightest bit. There will always be something to fill the void. It's the consumer that supports both, not the motorcycle.

There seems to be an assumption that Harley is some Goliath that the world cannot live without. But in reality they are actually a relatively small company.

And they only participate in one niche segment of the overall motorsports industry. Most fans of motorcycle racing, dirt bikes, ATV's, jetskis, snowmobiles, sport bikes, small and mid sized bikes, scooters, etc. would not even notice that they are gone.


Like you said, I would not want to see it happen either, simply because it is an American icon and there are a lot of jobs at stake. I would rather they stick around and someday start to build relevant motorcycles. Until then, as a consumer myself, they already don't exist, and never did.

 

[oldbikerbill]

As someone mentioned in another thread, "where's Willie G when we need him"? The field of executives must be slim pickins these days. Re Boeing; a little dab of common sense would help.