H-D's COO Matthew Levatich, speaking at the company's 110-year anniversary celebration in Milwaukee has confirmed that the new sub-500cc Harley is to be made in India.

Here are a couple of articles:

http://www.gizmag.com/harley-davidson-500cc-learner-bike-electric/28903/

http://www.team-bhp.com/news/harley-davidson-coo-confirms-500cc-made-india-motorcycle

Here's a spy photo of a small cruiser caught testing in India - quite possibly the sub-500 HD. Oh no, that "new" 2014 ducktail again!!!

  

As for the electric Harley, I hope it remains just a talk, but wonder what they would do for the iconic HD sound - maybe synthesise it & play it via speakers?!!  That is already happening in some electric cars in order to warn pedestrians who are not used to silent cars that glide upon them.

As a business decision sub 500cc is a good idea.  The Asian market they're aiming at even considers a 250 to be a big bike.  As for the style of it, let's hope that prototype hasn't hit the style department yet.

As for electric, it's the future whether we like it or not.  There's no reason you can't make a stylish electric bike/car, but for some reason they just don't do it.  Look at the bloody Prius ffs.  There has been some pretty impressive performance gained out of prototype electric bikes, there's no reason it can't work.

For the indian and other asian countries where there are more people riding bikes than driving cars, I think it makes perfect sense to have a sub 500.

I cant really imagine Ma and Pa Punjab and their 5 kids getting around on a Road King at Harley RRP prices.

personally I figure the "MO CO " can get fucked. I'm jack of all the institutions I,ve believed in over the years selling out . HD. Ford. V8 supercars . ALP . etc etc . I appreciate that in a corporate world increased market share equals increaed profits , but I think HD et all have been making a pretty good profit for a long time now traging on the heritage ,made in america, 1% tough nut image but that is not enough now they want to become another honda . FUCK EM . I will stick with my FLHX and Ford GT and totally ignore any future marketing bullshit about new improved products .

Tell em out loud they can get fucked because they figure you can do the same they just dont say it out loud.

Learner legal HD for Oz ....... ?

That's a little extreme don't you think? Does this motorcycle diminish your enjoyment of motorcycling at all? Is your self esteem threatened by it?

HD's now made in India , FUK that , next thing you'll know they'll be making them in Japan. imo it takes the gloss off owning a HD.

I think it's cool to see sub 500's being developed. HD stopped being an "exclusive" brand many years ago.

Iy's not about exclusivity , it's more to do with the fact that we have all paid through the nose for years for what has been an aspirational bike/brand and the moco have cashed in on that aspiration big time . Had the companies intention of becoming just another UJM been known I would have spent 20% of what I have spent on Harleys over the years and had just as many bikes with better dynamics /performance. There is a glass ceiling to the sale of all luxury items and the moco have realised they have hit that ceiling now they are going to diversify into cheap mass produced bikes which only devalues the loyalty we have all shown over a long period of time. Once again FUCK EM.

Hitting the 'glass ceiling is probably better than hitting rock bottom in a business sence hey ?
As if a massive brand like HD expanding and diversifying into new ground and such massive booming middle class markets is going to stop anyone buying or enjoying the HD brand they currently own , like ya say , there's always other brands , always has been , life is full of choices they reckon !
If selling up to half a million units globally per year ain't mass producing as it is , I'm not sure what is ?
As for being overpriced compared to other brands , we all made that personal choice , as for quality most bikes already outlive their owners riding life , and one would think that everything will have to meet HD quality Control anyway , as does the products already made in India or China , labour , production costs and shipping is a large part of what has driven market prices for pretty much everything of late , thus the decision to enter Asias cheap labour and massive booming middle class , besides worldwide traffic congestion , fuel costs , the female or learner rider markets !
HD will always have its roots and older models to be be sort after , if one choses to ride a shovel so be it , all of what posters are saying is true , but as for 'any brand , not to take advantage of booming new markets would be risking stagnation and economic suicide this day and age !
Just my personal opinion , cheers .

unfortunately in the world we all currently reside in, money is all that matters. sad but factual. I think myself as one of the lucky ones to have ridden at a time when loyalty to a brand did matter to the manufacturers of any product. I think those days are over. I still have my bike and enjoy it almost as much now as back then but riding with the knowledge that the new breed of riders are pretty much a diiferent breed to the old, takes the shine off a little. such is life.
ps. no offence to new riders,we all started somewhere, its more a society thing.

Porsche, BMW trying to crack the Indian mass market to survive? Some brands live on because hey don't try and be in all parts of the market,and trade margin for volume. I don't know if Harley need to do this for their survival, but I do believe it is a trade, they will dilute their image with the move to low cc bikes. Then you have to ask if the trade in loss of some of the brands edge will be successful in itself, are they able to compete in the low cc, low cost market?

I think we live in the most expensive country in the world

We pay what we pay, we also get good pay, yes I know, we want more.

our bikes are way cheaper in the US, no argument there
my car is AU$40k cheaper in Britain to buy (current exchange rate)
probably cheaper in Germany where they are built
I am not sure if we still pay luxury car tax

I would have liked the chance to buy a HD learners approved bike for the wife to ride, it would have been a good option.
I don't care were the vehicles are built, the quality and safety is where the final decision to buy will be made.

 I agree with scotti. Well said. 

 Here is another pic of the 500cc Harley made in Indian.

With minimum camouflage, the upcoming Harley-Davidson 500 cc to be built in India and to be 1st marketed in this same country, is accumulating road test miles. There is a consensus among all big motorcycle manufacturers that they need to offer smaller capacity models at more affordable prices to be able to penetrate emerging markets and compete with local manufacturers. In addition, after an explosive growth during the last decade, there is an economic slow down in almost all these emerging countries where motorcycle sales have been sharply down during the last 4 quarters. From these spy picture, we already know that the 500 cc Harley will feature a V-Twin engine.

 

http://cyrilhuzeblog.com/2013/09/07/spy-picture-of-the-500-cc-harley-davidson/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cyrilhuzeblog+%28Cyril+Huze+Post%29

Btw, while China & India are a long way behind many developed economies in quality of life, education, health etc UNIVERSALLY across their entire population, technologically & scientifically both those countries are quite advanced.

If you look at any high tech field like aerospace, nuclear energy, supercomputers etc you will find the US, Russia, China & India as the key players followed by the European Union, Israel, Japan etc. Aerospace is the classic example - China & India design, develop & manufacture their own space satellites as well as design, develop & manufacture the huge multistage rockets to launch them to outer space. Why? Ultimately everything boils down to power, i.e. military might - for e.g. if you replace the satellite with a bomb, your satellite launcher suddenly becomes an intercontinental ballistic missile! And if you have your own network of spy, communications & GPS satellites orbiting the earth, you don't have to be scared that in case of war, a foreign power on whom you rely for satellite network might deny access and cripple you!.

My point is let us not underestimate the competition and whether they have the ability to make some crude, low tech Harley Davidson motorbikes. Yes, I love my Fatboy, but am well aware that technology & design-wise, it is 20+ years old.

Another key factor is that China & India as well as most countries protect their local industry with import duties of 100+% while we have stupidly reduced our duty on imported automobiles from 25% to 0% and then gone & signed free trade agreements with all & sundry - every one of them losing billions of dollars to the Australian economy.

 

well written and good to see an opinion based on fact rather than emotion. some will appreciate it whilst others may disagree. good to see we still have freedom of speech

Yeah well said Rains !
Times definitely are changing though ?

I wouldn't buy it just because it had a Harley badge on the tank, there are many components on Harleys these days that are not made in the USA so  I don't know why everyone bags out Japanese stuff.

---

1958 Rikuo RT2
Harley-Davidsons built in Japan? Unthinkable? Actually, it happened for almost three decades.

It all started in the early 1930s, when the Harley-Davidson Motor Company, like everyone else, was mired in the Great Depression. By 1932, in fact, the Milwaukee factory was running at about 10 percent capacity, and sales were below 4,000 units a year. One bright spot had been exports, but in Japan, Harley sales were also plummeting, because of an unfavorable exchange rate.

Enter Alfred Rich Child, an independent business agent authorized to represent Harley-Davidson in Japan, China, Korea and Manchuria. Child figured he could reduce the retail price of a Harley to a Japanese customer if the machines were built in-country. He convinced the home office to sell Harley machine tools and licensing rights to the Japanese Sankyo Seiyako Corporation, which would build Harleys in Japan. In dire straits, Harley agreed to the deal, and a new, Japanese-built model appeared under the "Rikuo" name.

Roughly translated, Rikuo means "Land King," or "King of Road." The deal continued for several years, until Harley-Davidson produced the EL 61 OHV Knucklehead in 1936. Child couldn't convince Sankyo to buy the licensing rights for the new machine.

That disagreement, coupled with the rise of a militaristic government in Japan, put an end to Child's, and Harley's, relationship with the Japanese Rikuo company.

Despite that split, Rikuos continued to be built in the Japanese factory. In fact, military versions of the Rikuo were built for the Japanese army during World War II. When civilian production resumed following the war, the motorcycle was limited largely to police and courier use.

As late as the 1950s, though, as many as 2,000 Rikuos were built each year, with the engine having been expanded from the original 750cc to 1,000cc, and then to 1,200cc.

This unrestored 1958 Rikuo RT2, owned by the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum and on loan to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum at AMA headquarters in Pickerington, Ohio, is an example of the last 750cc version built.