Harley-Davidson Stops Constructing Fuel-Powered Bikes Over “Regulatory Compliance Problem”

Harley-Davidson mentioned Thursday it could briefly halt manufacturing of all gasoline-powered bikes for 2 weeks “out of an abundance of warning,” resulting from an unspecified concern with a provider’s part and a “regulatory compliance matter.” Manufacturing of electrical LiveWire bikes shouldn’t be affected by at this time’s determination.

Harley’s assertion, posted on Thursday to the corporate’s web site, is brief and candy. This doesn’t seem like a provide chain concern, like what we’ve seen impacting automakers for months now, however fairly an issue with a bit of kit that Harley purchases from a third-party provider. Harley’s assertion in its entirety:

Yesterday, Harley-Davidson, Inc. (“Harley-Davidson”) (NYSE:HOG) took the choice to droop all automobile meeting and shipments (excluding LiveWire) for a two-week interval. This determination, taken out of an abundance of warning, relies on info supplied by a third-party provider to Harley-Davidson late on Tuesday (5/17) regarding a regulatory compliance matter referring to the provider’s part half.

The observe that LiveWire electrical fashions are excluded hints at a significant issue particular to Harley’s gasoline-powered bikes. The point out of a “regulatory compliance matter” would appear to level towards an issue with an emissions-related system. When reached by Jalopnik, Harley-Davidon didn’t provide any additional touch upon the matter.

Motorbike gross sales shot up within the pandemic, to Harley’s profit: The corporate’s shipments rose 30 p.c in 2021 in comparison with the yr prior, although shipments had been flat within the first quarter of 2022 as Harley has struggled to take care of different supply-chain points.

It additionally comes at a fairly unwelcome time: Harley-Davidson is decided to rebrand itself to turn into extra interesting to youthful patrons. The corporate appeared to lastly be constructing momentum towards that purpose, even displaying increased earnings earlier this yr.

Wall Avenue wasn’t impressed by at this time’s information out of H-D. Harley’s inventory was down 9 p.c for the day as of this writing.