Interesting take on SlingShot future

Quote from wjfyfe

For us "older" folks, do you not remember when looking towards the future was so exciting, how are you feeling about the future today? I used to think how wonderful it would be to someday live forever, today I am not even sure I want to be part of this world only a decade or two from now. Worse, I am dreading what the world is going to be like for our kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids..............................

Bill

Getting old sucks.....if you’re in bad health it sucks even worse.....

all we have to do is watch the liberals in California kill everything by going totally green in 10 years with a mandated plan that won’t be remotely feasible for over 50 years...

People will be living off grid in tents....and riding bicycles....with no electricity or gasoline or water.....and no fire because of the drought conditions...back to nature...the only people with money will be the illegal aliens... they will be renting out their tent spaces..at camp mexifornia...

Quote from Bigdog

Getting old sucks.....if you’re in bad health it sucks even worse.....

all we have to do is watch the liberals in California kill everything by going totally green in 10 years with a mandated plan that won’t be remotely feasible for over 50 years...

People will be living off grid in tents....and riding bicycles....with no electricity or gasoline or water.....and no fire because of the drought conditions...back to nature...the only people with money will be the illegal aliens... they will be renting out their tent spaces..at camp mexifornia...

I may be getting old, but I would rather be my age and have all of the years I have been blessed to live in this country and see it at its best then to be young now. I look at my grandkids and wonder if they will ever even have a clue of how great things were.

just think of all of the things we have seen and experienced and all of the opportunity that was there for us to grab that young people today will never know

Getting old may have its down side, but hey, I cant bitch - I got to live in what were probably the best years this country will ever see

imagine what the reaction would have been if someone had tried to run as a "socialist Democrat" back in the 60's

Quote from wjfyfe

For us "older" folks, do you not remember when looking towards the future was so exciting, how are you feeling about the future today? I used to think how wonderful it would be to someday live forever, today I am not even sure I want to be part of this world only a decade or two from now. Worse, I am dreading what the world is going to be like for our kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids..............................

Bill

man wjfyfe your glass is half empty and going to leak out fast if you let it !

Mine is half full and rising. I've got two beautiful daughters through university and making more money then God already, one Grandson here and another on the way and I can't wait to show those boys all this world has got to offer for them !

I think the article missed a very important point when discussing the "motorcycle" market and simply throwing in the slingshot. The physical limitations of aging baby boomers. Harley grew because the baby boomers bought lots of bikes. You don't need to hold up a slingshot. You'll find a lot of those boomers jumped on the slingshot to extend their ride without spending $30K+ for a Triglide.

Harley used to be a status symbol for hardcore bikers.....MACHO.....baddest biker with the biggest motor, loudest pipes...$$$$$ most expensive motorcycle...

millennials are worried about the new drapes moms putting in their basement windows...and learning how to take magnificent selfies...waiting for the next totally CGI movie made to look like the videos games they grew up playing where everything is totally unbelievable and without consequence for bad actions, like stealing cars and running from the cops and killing people around every turn and waiting for the liberals to give them everything free.....forever....and if they’re lucky it will come with a participation trophy so they won’t feel bad....about not being able to contribute to society.

My glass may be half empty...but I drank it and I see reality (as in the real world) not some made up computer generated smoke and mirrors fantasy...that’s brainwashing everyone that’s susceptible to it...

I hope everyone is prepared for what’s coming...with the whole country turning hard left...

How I feel when I ride the Harley..

How I feel driving the Slingshot

Nuff said

Quote from Bigdog

I hope everyone is prepared for what’s coming...with the whole country turning hard left...

Not the "whole country". But I agree, many of the younger generation is buying into the "free" stuff that the govt pays for with our money....

Quote from BryanL

How I feel when I ride the Harley..

How I feel driving the Slingshot

My Version.....



I'm just me... both ways! I tend to smile more in the Slingshot though!

Quote from Goats_Hogs

My Version.....



I'm just me... both ways! I tend to smile more in the Slingshot though!

Hairs a little longer, so riding more and haven't had to get a hair cut.

Quote from EjFord

Hairs a little longer, so riding more and haven't had to get a hair cut.

15 years ago, it was within 3 or 4 inches of my belt. That first pic is about as short as I ever get it. I'm not one for short hair.

Declining sales and dealer attrition are not signs of an expanding brand. This could get interesting...

Quote from BryanL

How I feel when I ride the Harley..

How I feel driving the Slingshot

Nuff said

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That's awesome BryanL ! I remember when I couldn't afford a bag of groceries...

I get it Patrick. Slingshot sales are down. Several things contributed to it I'm certain, and likely a few of them that I haven't even caught onto. But, here is my take. I believe the Slingshot could now be lowered in price. They have already made more than 1/2 again as many of them as they projected they would in 10 years. I realize they have built a new place in Alabama, but I still think the price should come down. The process should have streamlined by now, and they projected only 20,000 of them to be built in 10 years, but have built over 30,000 of them in less than 5 years (really a little over 4). That is one consideration.

I do think it's a vehicle that will only appeal to a limited amount of people that can and will buy it. Many might like it, but cost verses their income or expendable $$$ will keep them from it. Many that would love to own a big house, can't afford to pay the taxes and upkeep on it, let alone the cost of buying it. Same with the Slingshot.

The other thing that is coming into play (the part that I personally don't get) is that many people are selling them, or wanting to. The market is pretty filled with low mileage ones that are 1 to 4 years old. The prices are all over, but some of the prices asked are really low. Personally, I wouldn't take 2/3's of what I gave for mine with the mods I have.... if I couldn't buy another one. The value of it only comes into play on the day I trade it or sell it. For what mine is worth today (with 36,500 on it) I can continue to drive it for 10 years and still likely get something out of it. These miles are the cheap ones, there's just no way I'm going to rush it to cost me more.

The fact is, as I see it, that as long as there are inexpensive ones to be had out there with really low miles and possibly even some mods, the new ones are going to suffer. Just my thoughts on this.....

Quote from Goats_Hogs

I get it Patrick. Slingshot sales are down. Several things contributed to it I'm certain, and likely a few of them that I haven't even caught onto. But, here is my take. I believe the Slingshot could now be lowered in price. They have already made more than 1/2 again as many of them as they projected they would in 10 years. I realize they have built a new place in Alabama, but I still think the price should come down. The process should have streamlined by now, and they projected only 20,000 of them to be built in 10 years, but have built over 30,000 of them in less than 5 years (really a little over 4). That is one consideration.

I do think it's a vehicle that will only appeal to a limited amount of people that can and will buy it. Many might like it, but cost verses their income or expendable $$$ will keep them from it. Many that would love to own a big house, can't afford to pay the taxes and upkeep on it, let alone the cost of buying it. Same with the Slingshot.

The other thing that is coming into play (the part that I personally don't get) is that many people are selling them, or wanting to. The market is pretty filled with low mileage ones that are 1 to 4 years old. The prices are all over, but some of the prices asked are really low. Personally, I wouldn't take 2/3's of what I gave for mine with the mods I have.... if I couldn't buy another one. The value of it only comes into play on the day I trade it or sell it. For what mine is worth today (with 36,500 on it) I can continue to drive it for 10 years and still likely get something out of it. These miles are the cheap ones, there's just no way I'm going to rush it to cost me more.

The fact is, as I see it, that as long as there are inexpensive ones to be had out there with really low miles and possibly even some mods, the new ones are going to suffer. Just my thoughts on this.....

I have not kept up with the for sale prices for the last year and a half, but at that time $15,000 would buy you a 2015 with around $5,000 to $6,000 worth of mods. Matter of fact, when I did the little off road ride in 2017 there were 4 at that price 3 on the west coast and one in Fla. that sold the week before I started looking. ( I was going to buy another while mine was being repaired)

Vanderhall is now at my dealership...

27k-30k front wheel drive a little less storage but a nice ride. To me- apples and oranges totally different style. But cool all the same.

Waiting on my coolant tank AND a “ CK ENGINE “ code😐

Polaris has a nitch market with the slingshot. Harley, Polaris, Boeing whatever company you want to name is corporate greed oriented...they are only concerned about the stock holders.....and squeezing every nickel out of the units...thereby actually cheapening them with inferior parts isn’t a good business model.....

Sear, Walmart and everyone else sold out to the Chinese cheap crap....to make more money......with a higher profit margin.....and want us to loyally support their stores. When we don’t they cry about losing profits because we never wanted that cheap crap in the first place... they lost site of the company values.....and in a way corporate greed is actually killing them.....the only reason for companies going out of business is because they are being mismanaged by corporate CEOs listening to the bean counters that make their business decisions strictly for the stock holders....

I don’t want to invest in a Chinese sellout company that makes crap...they deserve to die for their incompetence and greed management....

These drug companies that are only profit oriented above helping mankind by skyrocketing the prices for something that keeps people alive is ridiculous. Profiteering drug CEOs should be put to death...

Why is a companys success always based on how good the stock does? Why do they have to assume if they aren’t selling better numbers than last year, they are a failure? Time to downsize and cry about loses....

Can’t they be happy selling the same amount as last year? And the year after? Doesn’t that count for something? Maybe that’s all the interest there will ever be for the slingshot...or harley......if anyone remembers bikers were always called 1%ers.....they even had 1%ers jacket patches.....because that was the percentage of the population that owned motorcycles...so now why today do they expect 20-30% in sales?

I stopped 2 wheeling because there are more cars on the road with asshole drivers that want to kill you...

If you only go into any busineesss to satisfy stock holders above and beyond anything else is that truly a good business?

Maybe just maybe people should live within their means....the government shutdown brought that into light. They told you they all live pay to pay....

When I bought my house I used the traditional money formula that every bank used ....a house payment and expenses should be one weeks gross pay.....then 10% goes into saving and your total debt load should be 35% totally.....and this was all based on one salary....they never counted the wives in on that....because they made less than men...OMG and they figured if they got pregnant they wouldn’t have the income anyway...

I considered what the taxes would be.....I hate paying taxes so I want them as low as possible...

I was a steel worker....on our salary to be within the typical tried and true financial guidelines ^ above.....at that time no steelworker could have afforded a house more than $45,000.....with a nice used vehicle......no camp in the mountains, no big boat, or motor home or camper. No big fancy vacations costing thousands of dollars..no new harley or slingshot.

A perfectly good example of this is the new car market today....anyone that buys a brand new $70,000 vehicle is either rich or way over their head....which at some point the manufacturers will discount by $10-15,000 to unload them....and that doesn’t count the depreciation for driving it off the lot...and it’s still over priced. Buying a brand new truck for me today is out of my sights....$$$$$$$

I’m not saying I followed every single guideline....I like stuff too...but corporate greed started to become the main business concern in the mid to late 70s and it only got worse.

It changed the way they do business and it changed the customers too...and how we buy things...

For the record my slingshots value will be upside down until it’s paid off....

Banks that only offer you 1-2% interest on savings while charging you 20-30% interstate on credit cards plus every other nickel and dime fee is ridiculous ....they are killing consumers and how we buy products...these businesses should be telling banks to knock it off...again it goes back to stock holders and corporate greed...

So before they blame millennials and old fart harley drivers for their business woes....think about the real problem.....it’s greed and more greed that created your business problems. From the money lenders right to your CEOs nice desk...

Will there ever be an end to corporate greed? That’s the only sensible solution I can see....

Quote from SoCal

Vanderhall is now at my dealership...

27k-30k front wheel drive a little less storage but a nice ride. To me- apples and oranges totally different style. But cool all the same.

Waiting on my coolant tank AND a “ CK ENGINE “ code😐

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The Vanderhall's are nice but way to narrow in the passenger compartment for me and I also dont care for front wheel drive - - no good for kicking the back out in the corners