Business Segments (Information By Strategic Business Units) (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended
Mar. 27, 2016	Mar. 29, 2015
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Motorcycles net revenue	$ 1,576,610	$ 1,510,570
Selling, administrative and engineering expense	291,768	277,749
Financial Services revenue	173,358	162,375
Operating income	388,828	410,118
Motorcycles [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Motorcycles net revenue	1,576,610	1,510,570
Gross profit	590,280	590,275
Selling, administrative and engineering expense	257,823	244,821
Operating income	332,457	345,454
Financial Services [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Financial Services revenue	173,358	162,375
Financial services expense	116,987	97,711
Operating income	$ 56,371	$ 64,664

The aggregate costs incurred during the reporting period related to financial services rendered by an entity.

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The net result for the period of deducting operating expenses from operating revenues.

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Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

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The aggregate total costs related to selling a firm's product and services, as well as all other general and administrative expenses. Direct selling expenses (for example, credit, warranty, and advertising) are expenses that can be directly linked to the sale of specific products. Indirect selling expenses are expenses that cannot be directly linked to the sale of specific products, for example telephone expenses, Internet, and postal charges. General and administrative expenses include salaries of non-sales personnel, rent, utilities, communication, etc.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 225
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03.4)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26872669&loc=d3e20235-122688

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 330
-SubTopic 10
-Section 30
-Paragraph 8
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=51677171&loc=d3e3636-108311

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