CAR: Fuck Facebook!

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Harley Davidson
Harley and Co.: The new passion for luxury bikes

  • Site Editor Marcus Efler

Boom in the ailing motorcycle market: Providers of expensive and individually designed models such as Harley-Davidson are posting amazing growth – again thanks to younger customers

In the early 1980s, Willie G. Davidson, grandson of the co-founder of Harley-Davidson, his son introduced the world in a Native American way. "He told me, ‘When Harley-Davidson is doing well, our family has a good lifestyle.’ recalled Bill Davidson, ‘and if Harley-Davidson is doing badly, then so are we."
At that time, the American motorcycle brand was doing rather poorly – in the midst of the boom in Japanese bikes. Founding heir Willie G. had just freed the company from the incompetent hands of the AMF conglomerate with twelve other private individuals and then slowly but steadily led it back to success.
Today it looks again as if the motorcycle market cannot feed the industry much longer. Approvals are falling worldwide; Increasingly higher hurdles when acquiring a motorcycle driver’s license discourage the next generation: In Germany, the average age of active drivers is approaching the 50 mark.
But right now, Harley and other manufacturers of expensive machines are amazing with strong growth. The signs of the Harley crisis at that time seem reversed: the market is weakening and the premium manufacturers are celebrating.
BMW’s two-wheeler division grew by 12.3 percent last year, and the traditional Italian brand Ducati by 16 percent. "And this year is already starting well again," reports Ducati Germany spokesman Kai Swaton. Harley-Davidson’s German sales rose by as much as 20 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year – which had not even suffered from the economic slowdown. "A bit of luxury must also be in the crisis," says Marketing Director Bernhard Gneithing happily.
Of course, more mature people with financial reserves still tend to buy Harleys: average age 44 and a half years. At least Bill Davidson, now the company’s finance manager, has observed a renewed interest among young people: “We’ve seen a very slight increase in young adults between the ages of 18 and 35.Some climb up the ranks from Japanese racers because they "always find it boring to go fast," others are newcomers to the bike kingdom.
Motorcycling is actually becoming hip again? As trendy as playing and surfing on the iPad? The founder’s descendant sees Apple’s lifestyle products as a model for the strategy of the future: individualization according to customer requirements – with the least possible effort for the buyer. "You buy an iPad from the factory configured to suit your needs," said Mr. Davidson learned: “This service is very important for young customers in particular – and they can now get it from us too."
Color, saddle, handlebars, wheels, turn signals made of LED or bulbs, a few more horsepower – that’s now available from the Milwaukee factory, "out of the box". Davidson sees this individuality as the core competence of the brand: "And if there are 10,000 Harleys somewhere: no two are the same."
The fans are willing to pay a bit of that: a few thousand dollars is the usual amount for “customizing”. Even in this country – where the dealers still lend a hand – hardly a Harley stays the way it left the cargo ship.
BMW, the small British brand Norton and Ducati use the traditional sound of their name to attract customers with the right wallet. The Italians are currently doing this in a particularly targeted manner – and as part of a partnership with the Mercedes sports brand AMG, they are presenting their bikes to those hedonists who choose the most expensive Benz models.
In addition to the more mature AMG drivers, Ducati man Swaton is also observing “younger customers again”. The danger that kids will prefer to surf social networks in the future than swing down country roads has not yet been banned. Harley manager Gneithing likes to convert them: “Fuck Facebook – we offer real life."

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One thought on “CAR: Fuck Facebook!”

  1. And what about that "great British brand"
    Triumph isn’t doing badly either, or am I misinformed?? P.S. Farther "Good Trip"

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