Harley-Davidson Is Fighting For Its Life by Building Anti-Harleys in Asia

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MOTORCYCLES
Harley-Davidson Is Fighting For Its Life by Building Anti-Harleys in Asia

Erik Shilling
Yesterday 4:13pm

Harley-Davidson is in trouble, and has been for some time. Young people in America don’t want the big, heavy motorcycles that are Harley’s main business, and President Trump’s trade war has been nigh disastrous. So it increasingly has turned to Asia. Pretty soon, the company hopes, selling bikes abroad will be its biggest market.

Harley’s in a weird spot. But like how Buick sells a ton of cars in China but is trying to get over its image as a has-been here in the U.S., Harley has found that its image overseas has much greater upside than here. What’s interesting about that strategy, is that Harley is growing in Asia and other markets by selling lighter-weight motorcycles, which is the same strategy that Honda, Kawasaki, Yamaha, and Suzuki used to nearly break Harley itself when they entered the American market in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Now, according to The Wall Street Journal, Harley is partnering with Qianjiang Motorcycle, a Chinese company—backed by Geely, owner of Volvo—to produce a light motorcycle, with a goal to sell half its motorcycles overseas by 2027. Harley already has plants in Brazil, India, Australia, and Thailand, and said last year that it would be closing its operations at its plant in Kansas City.

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