Harley Gears Up
HARLEY GEARS UP
IN RECENT YEARS, HARLEY-Davidsons have become so popular that it is now common practice for dealers to put prospective buyers on a waiting list. That may not be the case for much longer, however, as The Motor Company has announced plans to increase production capacity to 200,000 units by its 100th anniversary in 2003.
Considering that 104,000 Harleys rolled out of the York, Pennsylvania, assembly plant in 1995, this represents an increase of nearly 100 percent in just eight years. The key word, however, is “capacity.” As Steve Piehl, Harley’s PR director, emphasizes, “We’re not making any promises about production increases. We are just adding capacity so that if the market de-
mands 200,000 motorcycles in the year 2003, we will be able to build them.”
Although word of the plan, which calls for transferring Sportster production to a soon-to-be-built plant in Kansas City, Missouri, comes in the midst of a veritable cruiser maelstrom, Piehl maintains that it is not a reaction to the new breed of mega-cruisers introduced by the Japanese. “When there is more competition in the marketplace, the stakes go up, and it is the burden of the manufacturer to deliver what the customer wants: available product, which we are having a problem with right now, accessories and reliability,” he explains. “When it comes right down to it, a company doesn’t invest hundreds of millions of dollars based on a
competitor’s new motorcycle. You invest this kind of money in your future.”
While it is true that demand for new Harley-Davidson motorcycles is currently outstripping supply, doubling capacity would seem to be an over-optimistic increase. But company strategists aren’t planning on selling all of those units here; they’re looking abroad, to parts of the world where Harley has had little or no penetration. With Japan’s tiered licensing program currently undergoing reform that should result in more people qualifying for Open-class licenses, and the emergence of new sales areas such as Indonesia and Malaysia, numerous untapped markets exist worldwide.
Wendy F. Black
