Word: harleys
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...Harley-Davidson has been through a few cycles. It was founded in Milwaukee in 1903, and within a decade built itself into a global business. It survived the Great Depression by selling to police departments. In 1957, it introduced the Sportster, a sleeker, less expensive alternative to the company's popular touring bikes and a response to a wave of British imports. The Sportster's relatively small size made it appealing to women. But by the 1970s, motorcycling had become a marginalized sport. Its renaissance came in the late 1980s, driven largely by baby boomers' new affluence. From...
Acknowledging the challenge of selling premium motorcycles in this economic environment, Harley-Davidson recently introduced a print ad aiming to play on the Sportster Iron 883's relatively low price. The message: "About six bucks a day. Cheaper than your smokes, a six-pack, a lap dance, a bar tab, another tattoo, a parking ticket ..." The Sportster line is expected to account for a larger share of Harley-Davidson's sales this year - though still less than 25% of the total. (The company notes that there is still a waiting list for the new $29,000 Tri-Glide Ultra Classic...
...Guiding Harley-Davidson's marketing strategy is Mark-Hans Richer, 44, who was hired as chief marketing officer in July 2007 after leading marketing efforts at General Motors' Pontiac unit. One of Richer's first moves was to hire a director of product development for "outreach customers" - young people, women and those in non-U.S. markets. Richer's team quickly discovered that young people aren't into the heavy chrome found on many Harley-Davidsons - hence the emphasis on the primarily black Sportster Iron 883, which was already in development...
...company's long-term viability will require a focus on more than just pricing. Harley-Davidson must reconsider its dependence on its popular touring bikes - which one industry analyst, Tony Gikas, of Piper Jaffray in Minneapolis, says "look like geezer bikes." To some degree, Harley-Davidson can't dramatically alter the bikes' looks, lest it alienate its core patrons. Nevertheless, Gikas says, "You don't find too many 21- and 22-year-old guys with their girlfriends riding around on Harleys. Or wanting...
...recent years, many young people have been drawn to sport bikes by Honda, Ducati, Kawasaki and Suzuki. Harley-Davidson also owns a line of products under the Buell brand. But it may make sense to transport some of those products to a new sport-bike line bearing the Harley-Davidson brand, pricing them at roughly the same point as its Sportster line, or less...