LiveWire Group Inc., the electric motorcycle spinoff from Harley-Davidson, will need a strong fourth quarter to meet its full year guidance that calls for sales of 600 to 1,000 motorcycles this year.
The company shipped 50 units in the third quarter, bringing its total for the year to 146.
Still, Karim Donnez, chief executive officer of LiveWire, affirmed the company’s guidance on Thursday during Harley’s earnings call. LiveWire is a standalone public company but most of its shares are owned by Harley.
Donnez noted the company had begun production of its Del Mar model, the first bike on its S2 platform.
“With production now ramping up, we expect to see increasing volumes in Q4 as we get more bikes to more customers,” he said.
The Del Mar and the S2 platform reduces LiveWire’s reliance on outside vendors and also comes at a 35% lower price point than the initial LiveWire model. The company also opened Del Mar reservations for customers in Europe, although deliveries likely won’t start until early next year.
With European sales of the new model not showing up until next year and the need to sell around 450 units to reach the low-end of guidance, analysts questioned if it would be possible to deliver on the target.
“We have enough demand to fulfill the guidance in terms of number of units,” Donnez said, pointing to pre-orders as one factor and production capacity at Harley’s York, Pennsylvania plant.
Donnez also said the company’s operating loss of $25.3 million in the third quarter was in line with expectations. The company expects a $115 million to $125 million operating loss for the year.
LiveWire Group did report $8.1 million in revenue for the quarter, down from $14.7 million last year. Most of the revenue came from the company’s Stacyc brand of balance bikes for kids, although those sales were also down from $9.8 million to $6.8 million.
The Stacyc business did manage a $400,000 operating profit for the quarter, down from $1.5 million last year.
