Harley-Davidson continues to grow in Europe

Famous for its road bikes and tourings like the Fat Boy and Electra Glide, Harley-Davidson continues to break into the European market with more Europeanized models such as the Softail Night Train and the Sportster 883R.

In the first quarter of 2006, the sales volume of Harley-Davidson Europe grew by more than 7.1% after a year 2005 up 20.6% (21.2% in France, read our).

"The strong performance of the Sportster range is a key element of our growth"Says John Russel, vice president and general manager of Harley-Davidson Europe. Sportster sales in Europe indeed increased by 21.6% between 2004 and 2005..

"The sales results of our touring and road motorcycles reflect the great loyalty of our customers. However, the bulk of Sportsters are purchased by customers new to the brand and the Harley-Davidson universe. We have worked hard to emphasize the fact that the purchase price of this range remains very affordable", continues the big European boss.

An effort that also underlined Jean-Luc Mars, CEO of Harley France, in his interview with Moto-Net during the 2005 market report (read).

But John Russel explains the success of Sportsters and more classically styled motorcycles like the Dyna Street Bob mainly by Harley-Davidson’s ability to develop motorcycles.which better meet the demands of our European consumers in terms of performance and design".

Thus the VRSCA V-Rod, several times awarded worldwide for its design, was a big success in Europe while other models were specifically created to better meet the tastes of Europeans such as the Softail Night Train, the Sportster 883R (soon to be tested in Moto-Net) or the VRSCR Street Rod.

But the American firm does not intend to distort its brand image: "which is also encouraging", Harley notes,"is that a large part of Sportster owners then move on to other lines of motorcycles of the brand".

Finally, John Russel confirms that Harley-Davidson Europe continues to work closely with the US product development team and therefore we can expect to see more "Europeanized" Harley-Davidson in the future: "although we are not in a position to discuss or announce any new products until this summer, we are very motivated by the progress made and we encourage European riders to stay alert"… Patience, therefore !

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