• 

  paulybronco

  6 years ago

  Well i do recall in the not so distant past a decent bit of banter from some folks about only buying USA built bikes.......well the CEO dont share your concerns
  
  

  Unreal!!! Harley Davidson now says “Made in America” doesn’t matter-CEO Levatich says Harley-Davidson brand about freedom, less about ‘made in America’

  BY INSANE THROTTLE

  October 1, 2018

  
  

  Harley-Davidson Inc. president and CEO Matt Levatich uses the word “freedom” in nearly every public comment he makes.

  For Levatich, who was appointed CEO of the iconic Milwaukee-based motorcycle manufacturer in 2015, freedom is one of the brand’s core values, along with things like strength, independence, self-expression and individual identity. In a conversation hosted by Scale Up Milwaukee Thursday morning, Levatich emphasized the importance of Harley-Davidson’s purpose and identity being “liberating, not constraining.”

  A key to a company’s success, in Levatich’s mind, is a “clear” understanding of what a company stands for.

  “What I like about Harley is we never have to have that conversation,” he said. “We’ve been about the same thing since the very beginning.”

  Levatich went on to to say the company’s core values are liberating, as opposed to “we’re made in the USA,” which he implied was constraining. Harley-Davidson has made international growth a key priority in its 10-year strategy, but has also been criticized, most notably by President Donald Trump, for planning to move production of motorcycles overseas to avoid tariffs.

  In expanding on his philosophy, Levatich invoked New Glarus Brewing Co.’s Spotted Cow, which is famous for its “Only in Wisconsin” branding.

  “That’s a really awesome example of a differentiated point of view, but it’s a constraint to growth,” he said. “I admire, on the one hand, their willingness to say that, but then I think to myself, is that going to work 10 years from now?”

  The need to be open and broad in Harley-Davidson’s brand identity played a frequent role throughout Levatich’s remarks Thursday. While discussing Harley-Davidson as a “legacy company,” he shared his enthusiasm for adapting and evolving to create new riders, having in his mind shored up manufacturing and product development.

  “The plan has a very exciting component of modernizing, if you will, not what we stand for, but how we show up and put products in front of our customers,” he said. “This to me is the third piece of re-tooling the company and preparing it for the next century.

  That plan, the aforementioned 10-year strategy, was announced in early 2017, but got an accelerated update in July, less than 18 months after it was first announced. Levatich said he could envision announcing similar updates to the overall strategy somewhat annually in the future.

  “The world is dynamic and our capabilities are growing,” he said. “We felt this summer, it was very important. I think there were a lot of people that were wondering, what’s going on at Harley? Our U.S. numbers are not growing. Our industry, of which we are a significant portion, is not growing.”

  Appropriately, Levatich also mentioned Harley-Davidson’s launch of its “All for Freedom, Freedom for All” brand platform under his watch in 2017. That slogan is “inherently more positive, more inviting and aspirational” than something more commonly associated with motorcycling such as “stick it to The Man,” but also reiterates Levatich’s commitment to a more liberating, less constraining brand identity.

  “This is all part of a conscious effort to be more inclusive, more inviting, more interesting to more people by being who we are, differently,” he said.

• 

  LOFTYBOB

  6 years ago

  I am not sure there core buyers in America will take kindly to a manufacturing move overseas.
  

  I certainly wouldn't 

• 

  paulybronco

  6 years ago

  Well they dont seem to have market researched some of their new model bikes 

• 

  Hoodeng

  6 years ago

  They took a handout in the GFC because they were American to the core and needed American help ,, not a lot of people are Trump fans but his idea of manufacturing in the US, or pay a price for offshore manufacture and import into the US getting whacked with a hefty tariff ,you would think would make a US manufacturer think parochially .

  If HD's idea of US manufacture for the US market and manufacture elsewhere for the rest of us will work wonders for their sales ,it will work wonders but i wouldn't think in the positive.
  

• 

  Ratbob

  6 years ago

  Interesting, not sure I really care.  i.e. when the wheels on our beloved HD's were made in Australia, who thought that was a shit idea?

  If HD moved their plant to Australia, would that be a shit idea or would we be ok with it.

  I'm thinking we'd all be just fine with an Aussie made HD, so why not anywhere else?

  
  

• 

  fatbat

  6 years ago

  I agree 100%. 
  

  And lots of ceos and company presidents get things majorly wrong causing poor company performance. His statement is not credible by virtue of his position. 

• 

  Arron

  6 years ago

  I think someone needs needs to point out to Mr Levatich how well that subsidiary of GM (Holden) is doing since offshoring production.
  

• 

  Muzza Wa

  6 years ago

  He is right. It don’t matter

• 

  El Skitzo

  6 years ago

  Hence why I would never buy a second hand Harley or Chopper with a RevTech engine in it...

• 

  fatbat

  6 years ago

  There's probably a greater likelihood of Harley making bikes in Uranus than there is in Australia or Canada so I don't buy into that "what if" discussion at all.

  Mexico is a realistic consideration but somewhere in Asia would have to be the place if they want to sell more bikes to that population which also has some money.

  Perhaps the plant in India was testing the waters on a smaller scale of things to come.  They'll have to keep manufacturing in America for the American market for now, but the rest of the world, at least for some models, might get their Harleys from India or somewhere else in Asia. 

• 

  paulybronco

  6 years ago

  Quoting Ratbob on 24 Oct 2018 01:27 AM

  Interesting, not sure I really care.  i.e. when the wheels on our beloved HD's were made in Australia, who thought that was a shit idea?

  If HD moved their plant to Australia, would that be a shit idea or would we be ok with it.

  I'm thinking we'd all be just fine with an Aussie made HD, so why not anywhere else?

  
  

  I like that argument Ratbob

• 

  fatbat

  6 years ago

  I don't think you can compare Australian manufacturing to lots of other  places in the world. Australian manufacturing was high quality but also costly.
  

  Just because we were happy buying a harley with Australian made wheels doesn't mean we'll be happy buying a $30k bike made in India. It's an apples and oranges argument. 

• 

  paulybronco

  6 years ago

  Quoting fatbat on 25 Oct 2018 07:15 AM

  I don't think you can compare Australian manufacturing to lots of other  places in the world. Australian manufacturing was high quality but also costly.
  

  Just because we were happy buying a harley with Australian made wheels doesn't mean we'll be happy buying a $30k bike made in India. It's an apples and oranges argument. 

  I hear you fat at but our manufacturing had to be at a high quality as the price was prohibitively expensive hence no car assembly any more.  If the only Harley left is manufactured in a shed in  Vietnam and you want one well their ain’t no option.

• 

  paulybronco

  6 years ago

  With you hilly ??

• 

  steelo

  6 years ago

  I yearn for the days when cars and electrical appliances had "Made in Japan" stamped on them
  

• 

  Ratbob

  6 years ago

  Quoting fatbat on 25 Oct 2018 07:15 AM

  I don't think you can compare Australian manufacturing to lots of other  places in the world. Australian manufacturing was high quality but also costly.
  

  Just because we were happy buying a harley with Australian made wheels doesn't mean we'll be happy buying a $30k bike made in India. It's an apples and oranges argument. 

  Don’t disagree but the Enfields coming out of India are known for their quality. 

  Things just need to be built to spec and quality controlled.

• 

  Ratbob

  6 years ago

  Yes I feel much the same way. 

  The old road to longevity is littered with motorcycle manufacturers that didn’t branch out or at least keep up. So I gotta commend Harley on branching out, maybe some (including me) don’t like their current offerings, but I’m thinking they gotta move on or die out.

• 

  paulybronco

  6 years ago

  Quoting steelo on 25 Oct 2018 08:51 AM

  I yearn for the days when cars and electrical appliances had "Made in Japan" stamped on them
  

  And old veterans who not have a bar of Jap made stuff, times are changing

• 

  paulybronco

  6 years ago

  Hey you would get a longer warranty with a Korean Harley, LOL

• 

  Ratbob

  6 years ago

  Quoting paulybronco on 25 Oct 2018 09:50 AM

  Hey you would get a longer warranty with a Korean Harley, LOL

  Good point, 7 yr transferable warrantee like Hyundai, probably wouldn’t boost sales of the current batch but hey, wouldn’t hurt cause most Harley owners have their bikes for a while but travel low kms.