Harley-Davidson's Latest Quarterly Financial Report Is Out. It's Not All Doom And Gloom

Like they tell you in physical therapy, all progress is good progress.

Photo by: Harley-Davidson

By: Janaki Jitchotvisut

Jul 25, at 7:20am ET

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Harley-Davidson released its 2026 Q2 financial results, and despite previously expressed company sentiment that this year might be a tough one, things are looking cautiously optimistic. Has the most storied motorcycle company in the US finally turned a corner?

Let's start with the basics, in case you're not familiar with how the Motor Company reports things. There are three Harley-flavored reporting buckets and one LiveWire-flavored reporting bucket that appear on their financial reports.

Firstly, there's Harley-Davidson, Incorporated, which consolidates all the other branches under a single orange and black umbrella for revenue-reporting purposes. Next, there's Harley-Davidson Motor Company (HDMC), which tallies up gas-powered motorcycles, parts and accessories, and apparel. Then there's Harley-Davidson Financial Services (HDFS), which is pretty self-explanatory. And finally, there's LiveWire, which includes all the company's EV motorbikes of all kinds, including both LiveWire and STACYC. I'll do a more in-depth exploration of the LiveWire results in a separate piece, so for now we're going to focus on the Harley-Davidson side of the company here.

About Harley's Q2 2026 Motorcycle Sales

Year-on-year, Harley's retail motorcycle sales rose by about 1% worldwide in Q2 of 2026, as compared to Q2 of 2025. In numbers, the company reports sales of 42,500 bikes sold in Q2 of 2026, as compared to 42,300 sold in Q2 of 2025.

How those sales are distributed around the globe is slightly different, though. In North America, sales rose by about 3 %, up to 29,800 bikes in Q2 of 2026 as compared to 28,900 bikes for the same period in 2025. In Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (collectively referred to as EMEA), sales dropped by 9% year on year. There, they went from 7,600 in 2025 down to 7,000 in 2026. Asia Pacific regional sales remained flat, at 5,000 bikes all day. And in Latin America, sales rose by 4% year-on-year, going from 700 to 800.

Quarterly revenue for the HDMC segment rose slightly over 2025, going from US $1,044,000 to $1,104,000 in Q2 of 2026, which is a 6% increase year-on-year. It might not be the sexiest thing to suggest that slower, sustainable growth is good (not very 'move fast and break things' of me, is it?), but these are challenging times, both inside and outside the motorcycle industry. It seems like modest growth is better than no growth, right? You have to stop the bleeding before you can start to get healthy again.

If That's The Case, Why Are Harley-Davidson, Incorporated's Consolidated Results and Income Down?

You might have noticed that we haven't talked about Harley-Davidson Financial Services here yet, and that's the biggest reason why. In its release, Harley notes that its financial services arm is down a full 55% from this time in 2025, which it largely attributes to "the sale of loan assets that took place in the second half of 2025." Because it sold those loans, it was no longer taking in payments for those loans, which makes sense. What does "down 55 %" look like in actual numbers? In Q2 of 2026, HDFS took in $117 million, as compared to $257 million in Q2 of 2025.

And so, when you add all these things together (along with the LiveWire results we'll be discussing separately), you get a slight dip in consolidated revenue, which is down by about 6% in Q2 of 2026. The actual numbers reported are $1,230 million for Q2 of 2026, as compared to $1,307 million for Q2 of 2025.

What do you think?

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Thanks To These Results, Harley Just Raised Its Financial Guidance For The Rest Of 2026

We're not talking pie-in-the-sky numbers here; just small, seemingly realistic bumps ahead of its initial forecasting earlier in the year. While it's still expecting LiveWire to post an operating loss of $70 to $80 million, it is now expecting HDMC global motorcycle sales in the 133,500 to 138,500 range, instead of the 130,000 to 135,000 it previously reported expecting. In terms of operating income, HDMC is also expected to rake in between $10 million and $50 million, as opposed to the previously forecast range between a $40 million loss and a $10 million profit.

Cautious optimism may not be the most exciting thing, but if you're a company, it probably beats doom and gloom, right? Right. Here's hoping things continue to improve in Q3.