Harley-Davidson’s Sales Have Tanked, How Much Longer Can It Survive

It’s almost Halloween, the most orange-and-black time of the year. It’s also quarterly financial report time, which means that Harley-Davidson just dropped its Q3 2024 financial stats on the world.

How did it do? Apparently, folks don’t love the orange and black as much as the company probably wishes they did. Or, at least, not according to the shipment and sales numbers.

As a refresher, when Harley talks about the motorcycles it produces, it refers to things in three ways. LiveWire is included in this report, but it’s considered as its own category. It’s a category that includes all EV units, which includes both LiveWire and StaCyc, the children’s electric balance bike brand that Harley also owns. 

Over on the ICE motorcycle side, Harley-Davidson reports in two categories: Motorcycle Shipments, and Motorcycle Sales. For LiveWire, which as we’ve said includes all EV motorbikes, the 2024 figures all reflect Electric Motorcycle Sales. For the first five quarters that LiveWire was reported separately in Harley’s quarterly financial reports, the company reported Electric Motorcycle Shipments, not Sales.

Now that that’s clear, how did Q3 2024 Harley-Davidson Motor Company Motorcycle Shipments go? Not great. In Q3 of 2024, it shipped 27,500 motorcycles, which means it’s down 39 percent as compared to the 45,300 it shipped in Q3 of 2023. 

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What about HDMC Worldwide Motorcycle Sales? Those are down 13 percent in Q3 of 2024, as well. The Motor Company breaks down its worldwide presence into four regional categories: North America, Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA), Asia Pacific, and Latin America. North American sales are down 10 percent, EMEA sales are down 23 percent, and Asia Pacific sales are down 16 percent. Only Latin America sales are slightly up; the number there is a rather anemic 4 percent.

What about LiveWire EV motorcycle sales? Those are actually up 98 percent year on year in Q3 of 2024, as compared to Q3 of 2023. But when you look at the actual numbers, that’s a little less impressive than it might seem when we’re telling the story with percentages. In Q3 of 2024, LiveWire sold just 99 units worldwide. And remember, this includes StaCyc kids electric bikes, and we don’t know how many of each type of bike was sold, because the report doesn’t include that information.

Now, it’s true that 99 units is better than the 50 units (that’s five-zero, you read that correctly) that LiveWire reported as selling in Q3 of 2023. But it’s still not exactly setting the charts on fire.