Harley-Davidson Financial layoffs affect Carson

Harley-Davidson Financial Services announced Friday the company laid off 100 workers from its four locations, which includes the facility in Carson City.

Laurie Cole, director of communications for HDFS, said the company isn't releasing a breakdown of how many employees at each location were let go, but that most of the layoffs were at the two larger facilities in Carson City and Plano, Texas.

Cole said there are now 300 employees left in the Arrowhead Drive office in Carson City after the layoffs. In 2003, HDFS employed 425 people in Carson City, and negotiated a $750,000 tax break with the Nevada Commission on Economic Development to stay in the city and build a new 100,000-square-foot office building. When the new office opened it 2005, the company said that approximately 500 employees would be working there.

Cole said that the number of employees has declined since then, partially because of some workers who moved to the office in Plano, where the cost of living is cheaper.

HDFS has 770 employees in total, according to Cole, with the largest number in Carson City.

Cole said the affected personnel were notified Thursday, and the company supplied severance pay and employment assistance.

"We know it's a difficult time and it's a tough situation, and we are trying to help the employees as best we can," Cole said.

HDFS provides financing for Harley-Davidson dealers to buy inventory for their showrooms, as well as loans for customers buying motorcycles. With quarterly sales of its motorcycles down 30 percent compared to prior year, that affected HDFS and necessitated the reduction in workforce, Cole said.

HDFS parent Harley-Davidson Inc. announced that 700 workers company-wide would be laid off as a result of declining sales.

"While the underlying fundamentals of the Harley-Davidson brand remain strong and our dealers' retail motorcycle sales declined less than our competitors, it is obviously a very tough environment for us right now, given the continued weak consumer spending in the overall economy for discretionary purchases," company president and CEO Keith Wandell said in a press release.