Business Segments And Foreign Operations (Information By Industry Segment) (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	$ 9,674,164,000	$ 9,430,740,000	$ 9,155,518,000	[1]
Depreciation	180,408,000	255,171,000	246,344,000
Capital expenditures	189,035,000	170,845,000	116,748,000
Motorcycles Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	2,959,333,000	2,701,965,000	3,277,925,000	[1]
Depreciation	173,959,000	248,246,000	238,276,000
Capital expenditures	179,988,000	167,730,000	111,316,000
Financial Services [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets	6,714,831,000	6,728,775,000	5,877,593,000	[1]
Depreciation	6,449,000	6,925,000	8,068,000
Capital expenditures	9,047,000	3,115,000	5,432,000
Loss From Discontinued Operations [Member] | Motorcycles Segment [Member]
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Total assets			$ 181,200,000

[1] 2009 total assets for the Motorcycles segment includes assets of discontinued operations of $181.2 million.