06-24-2019, 02:28 PM
Positioning the Livewire as an image-building engineering showcase suggests they can afford to lose millions, and they can't. It doesn't draw people into their showrooms, and it isn't any breakthrough technology.
I remember walking into an H-D dealership many years ago, and asking where the Sportsters were. The salesman told me that H-D did not allow them in the same showroom as the Big Twins, and they were off in a smaller room, and the Buells were in another area. They only wanted to sell Big Twins.
Harley can't sell vertical twins, or "adventure" bikes, or off-road bikes or beginner bikes or sport bikes. Their 500 and 750 twins are not selling because they aren't big twins. They were never fully committed to diversifying, even going back to the Aermacchi days, and they are now paying the price for that.
The Livewire might be more attractive if they weren't saddled with the H-D name. I have no doubt that they have the engineering and manufacturing capability. If they had started up a separate entity, named it something like Wisconsin Electric Motorcycles, there would be less baggage. We wouldn't be asking "Why?"
Ten grand electric bikes don't sell, twenty grand electric bikes don't sell, and very few will see the value in a thirty grand one. It's not a large market now and won't be until it shows there are real advantages over existing internal-combustion bikes.
I remember walking into an H-D dealership many years ago, and asking where the Sportsters were. The salesman told me that H-D did not allow them in the same showroom as the Big Twins, and they were off in a smaller room, and the Buells were in another area. They only wanted to sell Big Twins.
Harley can't sell vertical twins, or "adventure" bikes, or off-road bikes or beginner bikes or sport bikes. Their 500 and 750 twins are not selling because they aren't big twins. They were never fully committed to diversifying, even going back to the Aermacchi days, and they are now paying the price for that.
The Livewire might be more attractive if they weren't saddled with the H-D name. I have no doubt that they have the engineering and manufacturing capability. If they had started up a separate entity, named it something like Wisconsin Electric Motorcycles, there would be less baggage. We wouldn't be asking "Why?"
Ten grand electric bikes don't sell, twenty grand electric bikes don't sell, and very few will see the value in a thirty grand one. It's not a large market now and won't be until it shows there are real advantages over existing internal-combustion bikes.