With America stepping up its sanctions against Russia, following the latter’s invasion of Ukraine, the support for further sanctions by large companies worldwide has been swift and overwhelmingly positive, regardless of industry. In the automotive segment, several carmakers have already decided to stop shipping products into Russia, and it’s looking like more will follow.
In terms of motorcycle manufacturers, we now have Harley-Davidson, one of America’s most beloved brands, suspending its operations in Russia, as well as all shipments of new bikes.
After the announcement, shares for the motorcycle giant fell 3% during afternoon trading, which was more or less in line with Wall Street’s other indexes and how they’ve responded to the war in Ukraine, reports Reuters.
Harley-Davidson has yet to provide the media with additional details on the suspension or the exact size of its operations in Russia.
What’s interesting, and more than a little ironic, is that Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has been photographed in the past (2010) while riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle – and in Ukraine of all places, together with several other bikers. Meanwhile, Europe remains Harley’s second-largest market for retail sales, after the United States.
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According to senior analyst and partner at Edgewater Research, Chris Hodson, the Milwaukee-based firm has about 10 dealerships in Russia, while their website states that they have no fewer than 369 dealerships across the European Union.
Bikes that were originally scheduled to land in Russia will now likely get rerouted elsewhere, stated Hodson.
“Russia is not that significant of a market, to begin with,” he said. “Any units that have been earmarked for Russia can be diverted elsewhere.”
As for other companies that are also pulling their resources out of Russia, Volvo announced just yesterday that it would stop any more shipments from going there, while the likes of General Motors, Ford, and BMW have also idled their operations.
~And as always…
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~AMERiders
and
No New Bikes for Putin Says H-D, Suspending Bike Shipments to Russia AMERiders explains why.
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