CEO Matt Levatich announced that The Motor Company->ke300 plans to release a whopping 50 new models over the next five years. Ambitious? Yeah, maybe. But before you hate-Harley folks get your flywheels all wound up, let's try to keep things in the realm of reality; OF COURSE the factory intends to use some combination of existing platforms, powerplants and features to mix-and-match new (and hopefully interesting) combinations for its millions of fans around the world. The new Milwaukee-Eight engine has lots of promise, and the new model variants do too, with the Road King->ke3392 Special emerging as the shining star of that group so far, but the year is young.

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(Road King Special)

To be fair, the MoCo has long had a practice of building upon, and borrowing from, existing lines. Repurposing parts helps keep R&D and production costs down, and even I have to admit the factory needs all the help it can get in that area, though one could argue that ditching the union labor would go a long way toward rectifying its exorbitant prices, but I don't see that happening anytime soon so we take what we can get. Meanwhile, the factory's financial statement is a mixed bag.

Direct from the factory: MILWAUKEE, Jan. 31, 2017 – Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE:HOG) fourth quarter 2016 diluted EPS increased 22.7 percent to $0.27 compared to $0.22 in the same period of 2015. In the fourth quarter of 2016, net income was $47.2 million on consolidated revenue of $1.11 billion versus net income of $42.2 million on consolidated revenue of $1.18 billion in the year-ago period. Full-year 2016 diluted EPS increased 3.8 percent to $3.83 compared to diluted EPS of $3.69 in 2015. Full-year net income was $692.2 million on consolidated revenue of $6.0 billion versus net income of $752.2 million on consolidated revenue of $6.0 billion a year ago.

Add to that news the 65,000+ riders H-D trained through its rider school last year, and you start to get a picture of a company caught in the normal ebb and flow of business, a picture that looks nothing like the gloom-and-doom from wishful daydreamers longing to write, er I mean read, about Harley's demise. In short; it looks like the company will be around at least long enough to make good on its 50-model promise, or not. We'll see one way or the other. Tick Tock boys, better get to work.