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Harley Davidson

Harley Davidson

Tagline

Screw it, let's ride

Net Worth

$5,667,000,000

Started in (City)

Milwaukee

Started in (Country)

United States of America

Incorporation Date

01st December, 1903

Bankruptcy Date

-

Founders

  • William S. Harley
  • Arthur Davidson
  • Walter Davidson
  • William A. Davidson

About

Along with Indian, it was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression. The company has survived numerous ownership arrangements, subsidiary arrangements, periods of poor economic health and product quality, and intense global competition to become one of the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturers and an iconic brand widely known for its loyal following. There are owner clubs and events worldwide, as well as a company-sponsored, brand-focused museum. Harley-Davidson is noted for a style of customization that gave rise to the chopper motorcycle style. The company traditionally marketed heavyweight, air-cooled cruiser motorcycles with engine displacements greater than 700 ccs, but it has broadened its offerings to include more contemporary VRSC (2002) and middle-weight Street (2015) platforms.

Beginning

In 1901, 20-year-old William S. Harley drew up plans for a small engine with a displacement of 7.07 cubic inches (116 cc) and four-inch (102 mm) flywheels designed for use in a regular pedal-bicycle frame. Over the next two years, he and his childhood friend Arthur Davidson worked on their motor-bicycle using the northside Milwaukee machine shop at the home of their friend Henry Melk. It was finished in 1903 with the help of Arthur’s brother Walter Davidson. Upon testing their power-cycle, Harley and the Davidson brothers found it unable to climb the hills around Milwaukee without pedal assistance, and they wrote off their first motor-bicycle as a valuable learning experiment. The three began work on a new and improved machine with an engine of 24.74 cubic inches (405 cc) with 9.75 in (24.8 cm) flywheels weighing 28 lb (13 kg). Its advanced loop-frame pattern was similar to the 1903 Milwaukee Merkel motorcycle designed by Joseph Merkel, later of Flying Merkel fame. The bigger engine and loop-frame design took it out of the motorized bicycle category and marked the path to future motorcycle designs. They also received help with their bigger engine from outboard motor pioneer Ole Evinrude, who was then building gas engines of his own design for automotive use on Milwaukee’s Lake Street.

Road to Success

1911, the company introduced an improved V-Twin model. It was smaller than earlier twins but gave better performance. After 1913, the majority of bikes produced by Harley-Davidson were V-Twin models. 1912, Harley-Davidson introduced their patented "Ful-Floating Seat" which was suspended by a coil spring inside the seat tube. The spring tension could be adjusted to suit the rider\’s weight, and more than 3 inches (76 mm) of travel was available. Harley-Davidson used seats of this type until 1958. 1913, the yellow brick factory had been demolished and a new five-story structure had been built on the site which took up two blocks along Juneau Avenue and around the corner on 38th Street. Despite the competition, Harley-Davidson was already pulling ahead of Indian and dominated motorcycle racing after 1914. A production that year swelled to 16,284 machines. By 1920, Harley-Davidson was the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world, with 28,189 machines produced and dealers in 67 countries. In 1921, Otto Walker set a record on a Harley-Davidson as the first motorcycle to win a race at an average speed greater than 100 mph (160 km/h).

Challenges

Somewhere around the 1970s, Harley Davidson showed many signs of a struggle, and the consequences of their poor quality designed product were seen as a fall in their market share. After careful planning and research, it came to clear that surplus production had caused the derailment of focus from the Supply Chain Management. And the sole reason for their (Harley Davidson's) fame and success had no basis to be supported which resulted in low inventory and a high level of stocks. To make matters worse the demand for products kept decreasing and the high-level stocks resulted in the company close to bankruptcy. There was also the recession that resided alongside, contributing towards the low returns of the company. The supply department was quite unstable with having little to no control over the suppliers, or the quality that was provided by the supplier was often quite unpredictable and fluctuated leaving with a bad taste for customer satisfaction. These were some of the problems that were posed at Harley- Davidson in their struggle to rise above and beyond.

Failures

Harley has for years failed to increase sales in the United States, its top market accounting for more than half of its motorcycles sold. As its tattooed, baby-boomer base ages, the Milwaukee-based company is finding it challenging to woo new customers. In 2018, Harley posted the steepest sales decline in four years in the United States. U.S. sales are tipped to fall again this year. The first issue is that Harley's core customer is aging. In 1985, a motorcycle owner's median age was 27. By 2003, it was 41. And by 2018, it rose to 50, which means Harley-Davidson's customer base is only getting older. And right now, no one's taking its place. The second factor is the price. Harleys are expensive. According to The New York Times, the average cost of a Harley is about $20,000. They're also not practical vehicles for commuting and usually end up becoming pricey toys, which leads to the third and final problem: Harley-Davidson's brand just hasn't captivated millennials the same way it did baby boomers, and the baby boomers that helped the brand thrive also burdened the company with the reputation that Harleys are only for middle-aged white men, trapping the company between brand loyalists and future growth. But Harley-Davidson isn't going down without a fight. The person tasked with solving these issues is Harley's CEO, Matt Levatich. The heavyweight motorcycle maker's stock price has declined by 42% in the past five years. By comparison, the S&P 500 Index.SPX has gained 47%. Over half of young college graduates in America, whom Harley is courting with battery-powered bikes, are saddled with student loans that entail average repayment of $200 to $300 per month. Harley is not offering any discount or incentives to push the sales, either, the dealers said.

Subsidies

  • Harley-Davidson India
  • Harley Davidson Financial Services Inc
  • Harley Davidson Motor Co Group LLC
  • Harley-Davidson Foundation, Inc.
  • MV Agusta USA LLC
  • Harley-Davidson Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.
  • H D Michigan Inc
  • Harley-Davidson Dealer Systems, Inc
  • H D Michigan LLC
  • H-D U.S.A., LLC
  • Harley Davidson Holding Co Inc
  • Harley-Davidson Transportation Co., Inc.
  • Harley-Davidson (Shanghai) Commercial and Trading Co., Ltd.
  • H D Pilgrim Road LLC
  • H D Tomahawk Industrial Park LLC
  • HDMC LLC
  • H D Tomahawk Kaphaem Road LLC
  • Harley-Davidson Sweden AB
  • H-D Capitol Drive, LLC
  • HR Holding Corp
  • STACYC, Inc.
  • Renovation Realty Investment Services Inc
  • Harley Davidson Museum LLC
  • Buell Distribution Company, LLC
  • Harley-Davidson Czech Republic s.r.o.
  • H D Franklin LLC
  • H-D Tomahawk Somo, LLC
  • HASC, LLC
  • Harley Davidson International Holding Co Inc
  • H D F&R LLC

CEOs

  • Walter Davidson
  • William Herbert “Bill” Davidson
  • Charles Thompson
  • Vaughn L. Beals Jr.
  • Rich Teerlink
  • Jeffrey L. Bleustein
  • James Ziemer
  • Keith Wandell
  • Matthew S. Levatich
  • Jochen Zeitz