07-06-2014, 08:10 AM
I think that the reason for H-D's success starts with their "liberation" from AMF. When I first became interested in motorcycles in the early '70s, (like many on this forum), H-D was owned and manufactured by AMF. They were complete and total junk back then, not worth the trouble. To this day, I find myself associating Harleys with that image, even though I know they are totally different bikes now in terms of quality.
Harley's got better, obviously, after Willie G. and company regained control of and re-invented Harley Davidson as a company. Since then, H-D has done an absolutely brilliant job of marketing their product, probably as successful a turnaround as there has ever been in the business world. They re-invented their image in just about every way, and the image they have tried to instill in the public is that they are all about quality. As an example, H-D dealerships are now opulent palaces of "the American biker life-style", there used to be a dealer in Alexandria, LA, that was in an old frame building, out on a small country road, they could only fit about 3 bikes in the "showroom". This was common, but you don't see those places anymore.
All in all, some very smart people took over that company and turned it around, they improved the product, changed the image, and took over a large slice of the U.S. market. They recognized that H-D is a unique brand, and they have capitalized upon that, brilliantly. Detroit could probably learn something from this story, but probably won't.
I still won't buy one, but I will give credit where it is due.
Harley's got better, obviously, after Willie G. and company regained control of and re-invented Harley Davidson as a company. Since then, H-D has done an absolutely brilliant job of marketing their product, probably as successful a turnaround as there has ever been in the business world. They re-invented their image in just about every way, and the image they have tried to instill in the public is that they are all about quality. As an example, H-D dealerships are now opulent palaces of "the American biker life-style", there used to be a dealer in Alexandria, LA, that was in an old frame building, out on a small country road, they could only fit about 3 bikes in the "showroom". This was common, but you don't see those places anymore.
All in all, some very smart people took over that company and turned it around, they improved the product, changed the image, and took over a large slice of the U.S. market. They recognized that H-D is a unique brand, and they have capitalized upon that, brilliantly. Detroit could probably learn something from this story, but probably won't.
I still won't buy one, but I will give credit where it is due.