Buell gone?
 

It seems Buell is no more, unless someone steps in to buy the brand -

Soup :: Buell Motor Company Folds :: 10-15-2009

Confirmed on Buell website and H-D website with HD announcement of Q3 results, MV Agusta will be up for sale.

Details of Buell and MV Agusta Actions
The Company will discontinue production of Buell motorcycles. Remaining inventories of Buell motorcycles, accessories and apparel, while they last, will continue to be sold through authorized dealerships. Warranty coverage will continue as normal for Buell motorcycles and the Company will provide replacement parts and service through dealerships.

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.

Harley-Davidson, Inc. expects to incur approximately $125 million in one-time costs related to the discontinuation of the Buell product line. The Company expects to incur approximately $115 million of that amount this year.

Relative to MV Agusta, the Company will immediately commence efforts to sell the business, which is based in Varese, Italy.

In the third quarter, Harley-Davidson, Inc. recorded a one-time fixed-asset impairment charge of $14.2 million related to Buell and a goodwill impairment charge of $18.9 million related to MV Agusta.

“Buell and MV Agusta are great companies, with proud brands, high-quality exciting products and passionate enthusiasm for the motorcycle business. Buell has introduced many innovative advancements in motorcycle design and technology over the years and MV Agusta is known in Europe for its premium, high-performance sport motorcycles. However, our strategy to focus on the Harley-Davidson brand reflects the fact that we believe our investments in that brand are a better utilization of overall company resources,” said Wandell.

Wow. Not entirely surprising. But wow to the fact that I'm wearing a Buell t-shirt right now.

That's too bad. I hope someone picks up Buell and runs with it; it could be, in the long run, that severing ties to H-D will turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to them. Assuming they can find a buyer.

MV Agusta has long been a vastly overpriced joke. That level of fit, finish, performance, and engineering can be had for a fraction of the cost from any number of other brands. I was rather surprised to see H-D buy it in the first place.

They sure dropped them like a hot potato, didn't they? Probably once they got a really good look inside the company, its management, its books, its facilities, they saw what a hopeless mess they had purchased.

I think a lot of people questioned the MV Agusta purchase. You're right though - the experiment didn't last long.

sad on all fronts....

I guess the reason it was surprising to me was because of the money and effort they spent to go racing this year (AMA/DMG Pro series) in an effort to market the brand. If this was even thought of six months ago, why spend the money?

Damn...I hope they get picked up PDQ. I had my sights on an XB12R.

As for MV Agusta...shrug. Maybe some obscure Italian scooter company will buy them. ;)

Very sad...a message from Erik Buell:

http://www.buell.com/en_us/

Harley has been cutting costs hard in past year, after a year in denial. They've reduced mfg capacity, laid off workers, now getting rid of money-losing businesses. Stock went from $70 to $12, net debt from zero to $3.6BN, sales are only down 10% from peak but profit is down by over 1/3. Heavyweight motorcycle market is weak, Victory also feeling it. Buell is nothing, financially speaking, sales $100MM/yr, barely 1/3 of what Harley sells in "Harley"-branded clothes and other merchandise. I don't have Buell profit info but I doubt it has ever made any meaningful money for Harley.

Despite what Erik says about honoring warranties, I'll bet Buell owners have a seriously hard time getting work done. HD dealers around me treated the Buells with scorn and derision according to the owners i've spoken to. Maybe he can re-establish himself independently.

It might be a stretch, but maybe Penske could help Buell, since Saturn didn't pan out so well.

Seeing Penske back motorcycles would be interesting to see.

Unsurprising. When you can sell a "Street Glide" for $25k plus acres of leather, tons of chrome, and logo'd underwear, why would you give a fuch about some sportbike weenie that has barely $10k to spend?

As I read the story on AOL that ain't a posssibility. See this quote:

"Buell represented the company's foremost attempt to break out of the cruiser mold. Harley bought the name and product of inventor Erik Buell in 2003 with the hope of breaking into new markets, including sport (high performance) and standard bikes. However, a lack of acceptance by the company's dealer network and inadequate investment in building the brand kept Buell from finding any real traction. According to CFO John Olin, the Buell brand is not accounted for separately on the Harley-Davidson books, and therefore the company has chosen to kill it rather than sell it off. Another explanation might be that the brand has little to no value."

They're just axing it while selling off MV Augusta.

Sad.

See the line in the quote from the AOL story I just put up. "... a lack of acceptance by the company's dealer network." Kinda bears out what you said, doesn't it?

Buell coudn't make it successfully before Harley bought them out, so I figure they are done. At the end of the day, they have to make a product that somebody wants. Frankly, not enough people want one. Harley riders don't like sport bikes, as a general rule, and sport bike riders probably don't appreciate the underpowered lump that is the heart of a Buell. T'was not a good idea when Erik first had it and it's not a good idea now. People might buy an American sportbike if is is better than the competition. "Different" isn't the same as better.

Harley has been through a couple previous attempts at building a sportbike and trying to race it. Each lasted a few years and then went away. I figure this time they'll learn their lesson. I just hope that with their financial troubles they'll not do what they did twenty-something years ago and seek protection from the government, to the detriment of the rest of the industry. I'm still pissed off about that one.

JR

The 1125R is better than the competition, at least according to E.B.'s farewell address. It took finally moving away from the HD platform to get serious, though.

Honestly I rode an XB9R and I found it to be a lot more fun than any Japanese 4-banger I've ever swung a leg over.

Speaking of the farewell address, that was tough to watch. That poor guy is seriously heartbroken--and for good reason.