Harley Livewire - who cares?

[ChipBeck_imp]

Yes, Harley Davidson and Ford are symbols of America, and for decades, they capitalized on their name and their image, not their R&D. Harley Davidson made their money on big twins, and only now that their market is shrinking, they react.

Ford, like GM and FCR put all their effort into high-profit trucks and SUVs and Mustangs, then found they were un-competitive in the family car class and have pretty much abandoned it. No sedans, and only Chrysler makes mini-vans.

I remember the preparation for the first moon landing, and Americans were up in arms that the camera they were taking was not American, but an off-the-shelf German Hasselblad. What, no Kodak Instamatic? No Polaroid SX-70?

It's a world economy, and competition only improves products. If you can't adapt and compete, or have only one strength, well, good luck indeed.

If we all believed that Harley Davidsons were so wonderful, we'd own one. But we voted with our wallets, and we own CB1100s.

Gentlemen,

I don't want to bust your bubble but this is demonstrably untrue. Honda and Harley Davidson are both public companies and their sales and expenses are public record. Harley Davidson spends incredible sums on R&D and considerably more than Honda does on heavyweight road bikes. The recent downturn in motorcycle sales has hit ALL makers, not just H-D. And FWIW, I did spend my money on a CB1100. But I also spent my money on two Harley Davidsons. My 21 year old Road King is worth 80% as much today as I paid for it new. My 7 year old CB1100 is worth 35% what I paid for it. And even today during this downturn, in heavyweight motorcycle sales H-D outsells Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki, and Yamaha COMBINED. H-D has brand new engines in all of their big twins with tons of new features and the bikes are amazing. They update their big bikes a lot more often than Honda updates the Gold Wing. And people do votw with their wallets......H-D touring bikes crush the Gold Wing in sales. That's not an opinion, that's a fact. Toyota and Nissan have been trying for a decade to compete with the Ford F-150 and they get crushed every year.

The market is what it is though and if it's shrinking there isn't anything any maker can do about it. Motorcycling is shrinking just like snowboarding, rollerblading, and hunting. Kids aren't very interested in cars anymore either, many prefer Uber.

Car sales in the US are declining rapidly, SUV and truck sales are dominating so that's where Ford went. Despite making a good car Toyota Camray sales have cratered as people move away from the traditional 3 box sedan.

I own motorcycles from 6 differen't makers and cars from 4 differen't makers. I like them all. And that competition makes them all better. But making blanket statements about some makers not spending $ on R&D and dying because of old tech just isn't true. I would argue the new H-D V-twins are the most advanced and finest V-twins made by any maker in the world today and more R&D money has been spent developing them than on the motor of any other motorcycle period. All the best.

Chip