Largest Harley Store Planned in AZ

The founder of GoDaddy, Bob Parsons, has big plans for his Harley-Davidson of Scottsdale operation in Arizona. He plans on building a new two-story, 146,00o-square-foot store in the Scottsdale Airpark.

Justin Johnson, who manages the store, tells “The Arizona Republic” newspaper, “According to our calculations it will be the world’s largest Harley-Davidson dealership.”

By comparison, the average Walmart store is about 100,000 square feet. The goal is to have the store open by late spring 2015. The full story is here.

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Indian Motorcycle is starting to eat into Harley-Davidson’s customer base of riders wanting super-heavyweight cruisers. Rick Barrett of Milwaukee’s “Journal Sentinel” newspaper quotes an industry analyst as saying Indian may soon capture five percent of that market.

Robin Farley of UBS Investment Research says that the growth of Indian will likely result in Harley losing market share. It currently dominates the super-heavyweight category (1400cc or higher) with a 75 percent market share.

“It is intersting to look at what impact Indian may have Harley’s share going forward, as Indian does ramp up,” she said. The full story can be read here.

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BMW is setting sales records this year. Results for the first quarter of 2014 showed a 16.1 percent increase in the worldwide sales of bikes and maxi-scooters over 2013, with a record 28,719 delivered. March sales were up 16.2 percent with 15,183 sold.

– Bud Wilkinson