Wisconsin and Pennsylvania Get Rolling
Harley-Davidson has been hurting, and the COVID-19 Pandemic didn’t help. There is hope. The company has a new CEO and it now has opened the production facilities in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania on a limited schedule. Obviously, Harley won’t be producing nearly the same number of motorcycles as they did pre-COVID-19, but it’s good to see the company restarting production.
It will focus on the best selling models and colors first. Harley will not be doing much custom work at the production facilities for the rest of 2020, according to Reuters. The Motor Company did not say what models it would prioritize over others at this time.
RideApart suggests that Harley could focus on the models that fit into the Sportster/Street category because that was the biggest seller in Q1 of 2019. I’d suspect HD will take the best selling models from each of its categories and make those. So, it will make a Sportster model, a cruiser model (some kind of Softtail), and a touring model.
Of course, nobody really knows at this point what bikes will be rolling off assembly lines but Harley. Personally, I’m just glad the company is back to work. Also, this could ultimately be a good thing. I’ve long said that Harley sells too many of the same bike. Focusing on a few best-selling models and pushing the aftermarket HD parts catalog a bit more makes a lot of sense. All of this seems to be in line with the new CEO’s plan.