Harley’s future

Just finished reading your issue 74 piece on Harley Davidson. As far as Harley’s future goes, the fact is H-D was planning offshore assembly way before Trump imposed the import tariffs. They are just using the tariff excuse to appease its partially redundant workforce and its union. They have also shown themselves to be extremely ungrateful recipients of Trump’s 10% drop in corporate taxes and unlike some larger corporations, chose not to pass on the tax break directly to its employees. Harley-Davidson are on the slippery slope for other reasons. Firstly, the bikes are too expensive due to union wages, and older Harley riders are now hanging up their helmets in droves and are not being replaced by younger riders. The younger generation have chosen either to ride cheaper reliable Japanese bikes or deem motorcycling too dangerous. Additionally, the corporate/professional poser element has found that in the fullness of time, motorcycling was not for them. Add to that the fact that the bike’s design is far from being technically innovative in this day and age and features the same dated engine configuration going back over 100 years. Harley have to develop new markets and become more technically innovative with engine designs to have any hope of corporate survival into our ultra competitive new world. Graeme Williams Via email