"Being the pessimist that I am, I have a feeling the Concours is dead as a concept.... along with the large, super-sport ZX."
I believe that . Look, what is the market for a C14? I'm guessing most customers are men, age 40-55, make a minimum of $70K a year, have a lot of riding experience and want a sporty touring bike that costs $16000.
Now, before anyone chimes in says that they are 21 years old, make $40K a year, etc, keep in mind, I said "most". This is the market.\
It is a very narrow market! Also, each year, that number gets smaller. HD has found that out the hard way. For the most part, our young'ins are not as interested in motorcycles as they were decades ago. If anything, they see them as a cheap alternative to cars. Look at the most popular bikes, they are small, like the Gromm, little putters.
Twenty years ago, Cadillac noticed that the average buyer of its cars was getting older and older. They realized that if they didn't change their product to
appeal to younger people, their market would die. So, they did.
Yes, people are still buying sport tourers, but they are a dying breed. Suzuki doesn't offer one. Honda? Do people still buy that ST V bike? BMW? Yes. Yamaha still updates the fudger. Moto Guzzi stopped making them two years ago. That bummed me out because I really would love to own a 'Guzzi again.
Kawa, I think, is testing the waters with the sc motor.If it succeeds, expect other bikes to use something similar. If not, it will merely disappear. Suzuki did the same thing with their V4 motors, plopping them in a cruiser and a tourer. I had the V4 1200 cruiser and it basically was a mediocre bike with an awesome motor that didn't sell.
Another problem is that long term, the internal combustion motor is on the way out. Already, most of the attention in cars is on electric, not gas and some companies (like Volvo)have already announced when they will stop making gas only cars. I have no idea how motorcycles will fare with electric motors, but keep in mind that if cars go electric, gas stations will start to disappear, making it harder to hard core tour with a gas bike.I know that this may not start happening for ten years, but I have had my C14 for seven years and my Suzuki for 22 years, so in the big scheme of things for me, that is not too far off.
These are very tough tough times for motorcycle companies. I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of them were to merge.I remember it was not long agao when Suzuki stopped bringing in new bikes. They look the weakest. Heck, I can't remember the last time they came out with something new. The only big selling bike that they had was the Bandit 1200, sold in the '90's which used an oil cooled motor from the '80's; go figure.
I will say this- considering how well my '11 C14 has served me, how will the bike performs and how you could probably buy a 2019 for $15K, I consider the C14 a massive bargain and wish I could buy another for if and when my current one wears out.