On July 27, 2023, Harley-Davidson announced its 2023 Q2 financial results, with information including both motorcycle shipments and revenue generated worldwide. Since the company spun LiveWire off into its own business entity in 2022, it reports those results (under which the StaCyc electric balance bikes are also grouped) separately from its Harley-branded motorcycle shipments, sales, and revenue.
How did the Motor Company’s various arms do for Q2 of 2023? Revenue across all sectors was down two percent year-on-year as compared to the same period in 2022. Since this is RideApart and not BusinessApart, though, let’s dive into motorcycle shipment and sales numbers.
As a reminder, Harley records motorcycle shipments separately from motorcycle sales—at least, for Harley-branded bikes. It appears to make no such distinction (yet) for LiveWire. In any case, the MoCo reported worldwide motorcycle shipments of 42,900 bikes in Q2 of 2023. That represents a decrease of 10 percent over the 47,900 shipped in the same period in 2022. Harley attributes this decrease to that unplanned production stoppage that occurred in May 2023.
Getting into actual motorcycle sales for Q2 of 2022, though, the picture is a little more optimistic. In the regions of North America, Asia Pacific, and Latin America, sales rose. Only in the combined area of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (collectively referred to as EMEA) did sales drop by six percent.
While most growth regions saw single-digit percentages of growth, Asia Pacific rose by an impressive 24 percent year-on-year, jumping to 7,500 bikes sold in Q2 of 2023 as compared to the 6,000 sold in Q2 of 2022. In total, global motorcycle sales (excluding LiveWire) rose by three percent for Q2 of 2023.
So far, the LiveWire unit reports motorcycle shipments only, not motorcycle sales. For Q2 of 2023, LiveWire reported shipments of 33 entire bikes. Not 3,300, or 330. Thirty-three. That represents an 85 percent drop over Q2 of 2022, when 225 units were shipped. Incidentally, all 33 of the LiveWires that shipped in Q2 of 2022 were LiveWire Ones, not Harley-Davidson LiveWires or S2 Del Mars.
Unsurprisingly given the year’s results so far, LiveWire is revising its sales guidance for the entirety of the 2023 fiscal year and is now aiming for “motorcycle unit sales of 600 to 1,000.” Will it meet or exceed those goals? As the company expands in Europe and as the more affordable S2 Del Mars begin rolling out to customers, only time will tell.
