Harley-Davidson Japan faces fine over excessive sales quotas

pressuring dealers by implying their exclusive sales contracts might not be renewed if they failed to meet the quotas, leading some to buy unsold motorcycles themselves.

Forcing the dealers to buy these shoddy, American-made motorbikes is a low act. Harley Davidson deserved a decent penalty, not this rap over the knuckles with a feather.

Harley is in desperate shape, as their core demographic in America is now aging out of motorcycles. Younger riders don’t want to be associated with the “fat old grey beards”

I see tons of Harleys in Nagano, so they still have some brand equity here.

The firm has no directly managed stores, and only businesses that have concluded exclusive sales contracts are authorized to sell Harley-Davidson-branded motorcycles.

Theoretically HD could end up in a pickle if they actually cut the contracts to sell their vehicles and they end up with no-one in Japan able to sell the bikes.

Cutting of their own nose.

Naturally this would take a bit of coordination between franchises.

Forcing the dealers to buy these shoddy, American-made motorbikes is a low act.

Shoddy??? You have got to be joking! lol

Harley Davidson deserved a decent penalty, not this rap over the knuckles with a feather.

Hmmm

Fighting , back to your nationalistic madness, I see.

HD shoddy ? They may not be everybody’s choice but please, a little basic respect. Somethings not Japanese can actually be good.

I think you will be happier waving the hinomaru on one of the disputes rocks with China.

Loud unless USA Bike super heavy front end with no back wheel attitude and awful sitting position that tires the rider out after 100km of travel. Could be a few reason no one buy them in Japan.

I guess most of the car dealers do the same, especially if the economy is bad which Fighto probably does not understand

John-SanToday  07:44 pm JST

Could be a few reason no one buy them in Japan.

Many riders in Japan own Harleys. Go to Hokkaido and you'll see them all over.

Probably a niche market but they do sell.

Japan Fair Trade Commission - hehe

I really don't think any government should be involved in the relationship between the corporate and sales wings of a business. If the sales outlets don't meet those targets and the corporate side pulls their license, where do the products go? The corporate branch knows they need sales outlets. They will resolve this on their own.

Corporate was just trying to press for more aggressive selling, as do most companies in the transportation business. Toyota US, for example, uses the "carrot" approach. The more a dealership sells, the higher percentage and volume of more desirable/high profit margin models they are given to sell. The lower volume dealers get Corollas and base Camrys, and the higher volume dealers get Lexus.

And to those here saying Harley Davidson is a poorly made product, you're wrong. They give their customers exactly what they want. If you've ever owned one, you know this is true. Even during the years where the quality of their product was poor when AMF owned them (around 1980), people still bought all they could build.

It's true the younger generations at least in the US are not as drawn to them. Same reason birthrate is declining so fast in Japan: society and liberal schools are beating the masculinity out of our male youth. Harleys tend to attract "high T" owners. Man buns don't feel the same as long hair and beards do blowing in the wind.

This in the Norm with several companied especially brand names, meet the Quotas or lose the contract. Not just HD and BMW several insurance companies, electronics stores, Cell services and internet providers, auto dealers new and used all operate in the same manner and that's why their sales people are so aggressive as a SHARK and annoying to the point that will just make you walk out or away.

Glad HD was caught red handed, a lesson to be learned.

""Forcing the dealers to buy these shoddy, American-made motorbikes is a low act. Harley Davidson deserved a decent penalty, not this rap over the knuckles with a feather.""

I owned HD and still own a 2007 model and it is NOT SHODDY at all it runs as great as any high quality motorcycle in it's class and it is second to NONE.

Yes Japan makes great bikes too and I tour along with them, HD has it's distinct characteristics that NO OTHER BIKE COULD MATCH simple as that, but if you are not a rider you'll never know.

Forcing the dealers to buy these shoddy, American-made motorbikes is a low act. Harley Davidson deserved a decent penalty, not this rap over the knuckles with a feather.

Whatever your personal problem with HD might be, it is still considered very often a premium brand and despite being successful in attracting younger generation of riders, it still has a solid userbase in Japan too.

I hate ridiculously hard sales quotas. If you've got a very good product, it'll sell with proper advertising and support.

The motorcycle market in Japan is in the toilet. Honda, Kawasaki and Yamaha have closed many showrooms and cut many more registered dealerships.The number of young people is in free-fall and hardly any of them are interested in motorcycles. Harley has a "cult" base but they are literally dying off. 65% of Japan buyers are 45 year or older. They tried to attract younger riders but the "brand" is one of history and heritage not innovation. Harley sales have been declining since 2017 worldwide including Japan and Asia Pacific.

I wouldn't be investing in a long term Harley recovery.

What a crazy thing to happen. If a company imposes sales targets, then either do it or give up. You have a choice you can return the bikes that you didn’t pay for that are on consignment to you until you pay for them by selling them or you can suck it up and work extra hard to make it happen. If I was Harley-Davidson, I would revoke any relationship that did not produce profitable results.

If I was Harley-Davidson, I would revoke any relationship that did not produce profitable results.

And then what? Talk about cutting your nose off to spite your face.

These kind of practices have been going on in the motor (car and cycle) trade for as long as I can remember and that is a very long time. It's usually an act of desperation and is rarely successful in the long term. Once, many years ago, when I ran a car dealer in the UK I was told by my importer to register 40 units of a particular model and take them into used car stock. I reluctantly complied but when instructed to do pretty much the same thing one month later I refused and parted company with that particular importer.

Harry_GattoToday  10:32 pm JST

If I was Harley-Davidson, I would revoke any relationship that did not produce profitable results.

And then what? Talk about cutting your nose off to spite your face.

These kind of practices have been going on in the motor (car and cycle) trade for as long as I can remember and that is a very long time.

I hear you Harry. Harley and others have done it for years. Why now J FTC?

I think the underlying reason for the J FTC is to try to put pressure on the Trump Admin regarding tariffs by using US Corporations. Just a hunch though.

I think penalty should be much higher for this type of companies with wrong behavior. HD looks like a piece of junk when compared to modern ones like Honda.

Harleys aren't for everyone, but they are fun to ride.

Honda motorcycles can be fun to ride and a workhorse, but sometimes there are a few issues with the fit for certain humans that make riding a specific model uncomfortable.

Just depends on your taste and body which of the many different options in motorcycles is best for you.

Getting support for different motorcycles in different parts of the world can be a real challenge. That happens with nearly all brands. The same can be said of exotic cars. If you live in a tiny village in northern Japan, finding a Lotus mechanic will probably be a challenge.