U.S. retail sales of harley-davidson climb during third quarter
Harley-Davidson Press Release - Oct 21, 2005

U.S. Retail Sales of Harley-Davidson Motorcycles Climb 12.1% during the third Quarter

Jim Ziemer, Chief Executive Officer of Harley-Davidson, Inc., recently announced that, during the 3rd quarter ended September 25, 2005, Harley-Davidson “motorcycles sold at a brisk pace in all of our worldwide markets.  In the U.S., retail sales of Harley-Davidson(R) motorcycles rose 12 percent during the quarter (compared to third quarter, 2004), and in Europe and Japan, retail sales were up 11.5 percent and 13 percent, respectively.  Year-to-date, Harley-Davidson worldwide retail sales (of motorcycles) were up approximately 7 percent."

For the third quarter, the largest percentage of growth was in Touring models: increasing at a rate of 35% (over the same period during 2004) compared to slight decrease in all other models including the Custom and Sporster lines.
On a year-to-date basis, Harley-Davidson motorcycle sales were up 5.0 percent in the U.S., 19.3 percent in Europe, and 11.4 percent in Japan.

Industry-wide sales in the 651+cc segment in the U.S. were up 4.3 percent year to date. Through August, retail sales in Europe were down 1.4 percent and in Japan, they were down 1.5 percent.

The Company reports that sales of Harley-Davidson motorcycles outpaced the total industry in each of the Company's major markets,
Ziemer attributed the growth to the newly released line of 2006 models.  “We introduced six brand new models and made significant enhancements to each of our motorcycle families this year.”  “The changes have been very well received by our dealers, the motorcycle press and our retail customers."

Looking forward, Ziemer suggests that demand for motorcycles may be impacted by “uncertainty related to consumer confidence, increasing fuel prices and rising interest rates.”  In anticipation of next year, Harley-Davidson is planning and developing “great new products and customer experiences,” according to Ziemer.