CEO Takes Harley-Davidson for a Ride
March 16, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
How's this for a kick in the pants: Flying in the face of it's first quarterly loss in 16 years, a seriously questionable compensation package has just been awarded to the new, short-time CEO of Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG).
Keith E. Wandell, the new Harley-Davidson CEO, and former COO of Johnson Controls Inc. (JCI), has been awarded a compensation package totaling approximately $6.4 million for his participation in Harley-Davidson operations from may 2009 through the end of that year. When given the company's downward slide through 2009, and in consideration of tough times ahead for those who survive on high-end discretionary spending, might there be cause to wonder if Mr. Wandell's compensation package is just a tad excessive?
The compensation package in question included a base salary of $650,025, a bonus of $780,030, stock and option awards valued at $4.9 million at time of issue, and other compensation worth $22,515. That's mighty fine compensation for a fellow who has watched the company's outbound shipments decrease by more that 25% during his short, yet well paid, tenure.
The one saving grace here, when weighing compensation against performance, is the way in which Harley-Davidson stock has performed through this same time period. The daily average on Harley-Davidson stock value has risen about 20% since Wandell has moved in and taken the helm.
However, I do have a hard time believing that it is Wandell's leadership that has accomplished that rise. Let's hope that he proves me wrong.
CEO Takes Harley-Davidson for a Ride
Harley-Davidson Ungratified Power
February 18, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
What is it with Harley owners and dealers, first I belief that you not buy a Harley for horsepower, but it seems that talking about horsepower is what the Harley lovers do. Not so long ago, a Harley owner, with a very nice bike, claimed that the private build bike had over 100bhp, and it could rival any other type of bike they've patently never ridden but care to mention.
A couple of months ago another Harley lover and Harley dealer in Germany, made the claim to have an over 110bhp for their modified hog which I naturally sneered at. they offered to proof it, but when we started to make arrangements to do some official testing, they quickly and conspicuously retracted the availability of the bike.
Anyway, as I still belief you not buy a Harley or any cruiser for its amount of horsepower, we can still see some Harley Davidson dealer advertising of some ungratified power claims, with assertions of 112bhp at 5,500rpm and 112lbs/ft of torque a grand lower from bored out Dyna Super glide. Dubbed the FXDX XXL (Extra Extra Large) the 43 percent increase in torque and 65 percent rise in power are due to a quarter of a million Thai Baht worth of Screamin Eagle performance parts including a new stroker kit, big bore performance kit, performance cylinder heads, pushrod kit, performance cams, race module, Mikuni carburetor, flat top pistons, etc...
The performance figures are phenomenal for a Harley and show that cruiser bikes don't have to be slouches. As usual, and as seems to be the case with claims of this sort, there are no pictures of the bike outrunning anything in the same power range.
So why, are Harley owners so obsessed with horsepower, maybe it is the nickname "iron horse" which this American build motorcycles sometimes get.
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