Interesting article today from The Boston Herald and it follows some ideas I’ve had here over the past year or so...
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“Harley-Davidson Inc., the Milwaukee company with an iconic made-in-America brand, may someday build motorcycles overseas.
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By 2014, more than 40% of the company’s sales will be outside the United States, Harley executives said Thursday.
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Starting next year, the company will begin adding 100 to 150 dealerships in Europe and other foreign markets.”
As Harley continues to suffer losses in the US market, I think they’ll face more and more pressure to cut costs and move bike production abroad (as I’ve written before, the US may not be the same prosperous land of spendthrifts that is has been for a very, very long time).
It’s kind of scary to think about, and would certainly change the American motorcycle industry for good. We’d end up with a situation where, aside from small shops and a handful of independent bike manufacturers like Big Dog, or Flyrite, there would be no more “American” bikes made.
For a trip down memory lane -- here’s a video on “The History of Harley Davidson” from a few years back... I wonder how a “History of Harley Davidson” film made 20 years from now will go...
I certainly hope that it will continue to be an inspiring story of rising from the ashes, as it did in the early ‘80s.
It’s kind of amazing that Harley’s fortunes seem to mirror that of our own -- remember the economic pain of the late 70’s and early 80’s? It sure seemed like the world was ending for us then... Much like it is now, all over again. And Harley felt our pain then too...just like it is now.
So I guess I’m pulling for Harley, because it’s about the same as pulling for ourselves.
