Harley-Davidson Bets On The New Gens…Should You?
In a big bit of news that popped up Monday, Harley-Davidson is officially making their electric brand LiveWire One a publicly-traded entity valued at $1.7 Billion.
“If anything this underlines what we’ve been saying for a long time,” Roth Capital analyst Craig Irwin says.
“Detroit, wake up! The train has left the station! EVs are inevitable. Many traditional OEMs (Original equipment manufacturers) with emerging EV businesses can obviously do similar spinoff transactions,” Irwin adds.
Source: NPR
The report from CNBC states that Harley-Davidson is looking for the younger generation to ‘boost volumes’ – and with the younger generations seeing a motorcycle’s purpose as more functional over recreational, it’s only a matter of time as the market transitions before Harley-Davidson’s ‘core baby boomer customer base’ fades.
Other big names are hopping on the bandwagon – brands like Amazon-backed EV brand Rivian (RIVN), who are apparently now valued at over $100 billion (beating the current value of Ford and General Motors).
Source: Roadracing World
It seems they’ve made a good call (at least for present), with the American motorcycle manufacturer’s shares purportedly rising by 11.3% in premarket trading.
“Harley-Davidson’s electric-motorcycle division will go public through a merger with a blank-check firm,” CNBC continues.
“Jochen Zeitz, Harley’s chief executive, will be the chairman of LiveWire for up to two years following the completion of the deal. In an investor presentation, LiveWire projected units sales volume of 100,961 electric bikes by 2026.”
“Harley-Davidson will retain a 74% stake in the company, which is expected to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ‘LVW.’”
Source: Dezeen
“This is really a win-win-win for everybody,” explains CEO Jochen Zeitz.
“I’ve been involved in this process for ten years… pushing very hard to think long-term and think electrification. After having the opportunity to become CEO, I’ve put that in the fast lane, and electrification is part of the Harley-Davidson LiveWire One strategy, and through LVW we can really spearhead the electrification of the sport.”
“That’s why taking the logical step to spin it off is the logical thing to do now.”
Source: ROCR
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Be sure to also check out our latest news coming down from the pipeline proper, and as always – stay safe on the twisties.