LiveWire, Harley-Davidson Inc.’s all-electric motorcycle division, has sharply lowered its 2023 sales forecast because of a delay in the release of its new offering, the S2 Del Mar. It will now be released sometime during the second half of 2023. Executives forecasted the expected sale of units to be between 750 and 2,000, down from the original 7,000. In 2022, the company delivered 597 units of the LiveWire ONE (starting price $22,799), and the S2 motorcycle was projected to sell at a higher volume due to its lower price ($16,999).
Deployment of the S2 will not be limited to North America, either. 2023 will also see the company expand into Europe, with a new European vice president.
When asked about how the delay would affect LiveWire’s original expectation to deliver 15,000 units in 2024, President Ryan Morrissey focused on the long-term, saying it won’t affect his team’s larger strategy.
“We're continuing to focus on innovating in the core EV systems, the product portfolio, and expanding our distribution,” Morrissey said. “If you continue to look at the long-term trajectory and the long-term goals that we've set for the company, they continue to be the right ones.”
Launch of the S2 Del Mar was expected to help put the company on track to profitability in 2026. Currently, the anticipated operating loss for 2023 is approximately $120 million.
On the financial side, the company had a 31% increase in revenue to $47 million for 2022. However, there was an operating income loss of $29 million in Q4 alone, and $85 million for the whole year. In comparison, the net loss for 2021 was $68 million, with $20 million in Q4. LiveWire ended the year with $265 million in cash and cash equivalents.
Shares of LiveWire are trading at just over $7 per share, five months after it became as the first EV motorcycle company on the NYSE. Harley-Davidson made shares public in a bid to raise funds for new public development as LiveWire merged with SPAC AEA-Bridges Impact Corp. and Taiwanese electric scooter company KYMCO.
