Harley customer base is 51 years old. Millenials, have little use for Hot cars, which we friggin' drooled over and still do. Little use for motorcycles, And, and and losing interest in screwing. What millennials do desire ...they want for free.
Now, if Harley was to bring back something like the old sevi-cars , and fill the back up with batteries and make an electric MC, like they failed at 10-12 years ago. Maybe a millennial would take a look. Premier parking places in urban millennial haunts ( example Whole Foods) are #1 handicapped....#2 parking for electrics or hybrids.
Harley is afraid to market electric bikes or scooters in their dealerships.... for fear of losing more of their aging customer base.
As an aside, Harley is in talks with VW to buy Ducati.
I have owned a number of Ducs, still ride European bikes.... the last Milwaukee vibrator I had was a tank shift.
Enjoying my retirement from H-D . Got out with the full package. Cut it pretty close tho'. Another three days and everything would have gone down the drain.
Harley customer base is 51 years old. Millenials, have little use for Hot cars, which we friggin' drooled over and still do. Little use for motorcycles, And, and and losing interest in screwing. What millennials do desire ...they want for free.
That's because the Feminists have corrupted Pop Culture into celebrating Pajama Boy as the template for the White male and a Black NBA player for a sex partner. Seems they want the whimpy White boy to support them and run their children home from after school care but when they get horney they look up a macho dude. If you doubt it, look at the popularity of the Kardashians over the past decade.
"The Democrat Party looks like Titanic survivors. Partying and celebrating one moment, and huddled in lifeboats freezing the next". Hatari 2017
"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid." Han Solo
I went to the annual open House at the Harley dealership last month and it was packed with fat old bikers (like me). I'm planning one last road trip in August then my 97 Heritage Springer is going up for sale. At 81 years old I think it's time.
Times change. Some companies die with the changing times, some thrive, some adapt, some don't. It's the way of things
During the early Reagan era they were struggling, and they fell on marginal hard times again just before the dot com boom where it became stylish for cash flush 45 year olds to own one.
They'll survive I'm sure but they'll need to figure out a way to connect to a new audience. Right now it appears that selling $15K heavy cruisers isn't the approach.
have you paid your dues, can you moan the blues, can you bend them guitar strings
I dunno why anyone would buy s friggin Harley anyway. They tout the American made crisp but it's really just American assembled. And the price you pay is simply for a name
The government plans these shootings by targeting kids from kindergarten that the government thinks they can control with drugs until the appropriate time--DerbyDude
Whatever. Tell the oompa loompa's hey for me. [/quote]. LtPPowell
Harley will be OK, for a while at least, albeit at a reduced sales level & w/o the growth year over year that they have experienced for the last 10 years or so.
The market is pretty well saturated with lots of bikes bought by marginal riders during that time & that, added to the millennial situation, will surley contract sales.
Harley will need to downsize & re-adjust for a while to stay efficient & profitable.
The problem is that wall street & investors expect the growth curve (in every business) to never fall or flatten out & that's just not reality.
Right now it appears that selling $15K heavy cruisers isn't the approach.
If those heavy cruisers really were $15K, they'd sell a lot more...................a new Street Glide (not the Street Guide Special) is $22K+ & a new Ultra is around $28-30K.
Without providing numbers for Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Ducati, Triumph, etc., it's tough to claim the younger crowd doesn't ride or like bikes.
It could be that a lighter, faster, better handling, quieter and less expensive bike is what the younger generation is purchasing.
As an aside, Harley is in talks with VW to buy Ducati. .
I don't really keep up with the MC scene since I sold my last bikes in '08. I owned several Ducatis over the years and loved each of them. I have no doubt that Harley Davidson would royally screw up Ducati...they simply won't get it.
Mercy ceases to be a virtue when it enables further injustice. -Brent Weeks
Harley customer base is 51 years old. Millenials, have little use for Hot cars, which we friggin' drooled over and still do. Little use for motorcycles, And, and and losing interest in screwing. What millennials do desire ...they want for free.
That's because the Feminists have corrupted Pop Culture into celebrating Pajama Boy as the template for the White male and a Black NBA player for a sex partner. Seems they want the whimpy White boy to support them and run their children home from after school care but when they get horney they look up a macho dude. If you doubt it, look at the popularity of the Kardashians over the past decade.