It appears that Harley-Davidson’s most recent electric brainchild is fulfilling a niche demand for luxury, middleweight machines. The fact that the LiveWire Del Mar was able to sell out of their 100-unit Launch Edition batch in under 19 minutes still boggles the mind – especially since these particular MSRP $17,699 USD bikes were made to order.
So where is the demand coming from?
The first factor to look at: Pricing.
“When Harley-Davidson first unveiled its original LiveWire electric motorcycle and began taking orders nearly four years ago…It scored impressive marks and high acclaim for performance and style, but its sales suffered due to the original lofty price of nearly $30,000,” states a report from Electrek.
With the Del Mar appearing to cost just over half the price of The One (and the average Harley rider used to forking over ‘an average price of $20,338 in 2019,’ according to USNews), it’s no wonder that the Del Mar was nimbler about leaving the factory floor.
Factor number two: Popularity.
Harley’s been focusing on their brand image for the past few years, with the goal being to relate better to a younger audience – and what better way to resound with the next gen of customers than to pull from Harley’s adrenaline-saturated Flat Track history and present a bike inspired by the past and gunning for a zero-emission future?
There’s one more factor to keep in mind: Harley-Davidson’s customers may be older on average, but for every piece of wisdom to grace the proverbial saddle, there’s a lineup of friends, children, grandchildren….people that can potentially share the original client’s passion for Harley bikes.
As they say, if you’re not doing something that people will remark on, then it’s going to be harder to create word of mouth…and with H-D’s CEO Jochen Zeitz “grounded in enhancing the desirability of our brand and protecting the value of [H-D’s] iconic products,” we’re anticipating that the next brainchild (purported to be even smaller than the Del Mar) will create that much more hype for the American brand.
Stay tuned here for updates, drop a comment letting us know what you think, and as ever – stay safe on the twisties.