Harley-Davidson and the New Standard

By Cameron Vanderhorst - June 1, 2020

When it comes to keeping Harley-Davidson healthy as a company, the solution is to keep it simple — and clever.

Recently, Harley-Davidson parted ways with their longtime CEO Matt Levatich, replacing him with interim CEO Jochen Zeitz. Zeitz immediately went to work shaking things up at the company, most notably by scuttling Levatich’s “More Roads to Harley-Davidson” strategy.

That strategy saw Harley-Davidson rapidly expanding into new markets with new products to attract new riders. The LiveWire program is a prime example of the “More Roads to Harley-Davidson” ethos. The LiveWire has generated a lot of buzz, but so far, that buzz hasn’t really translated into a sales success. It’s a niche product at best.

For just about any other Harley-Davidson motorcycle, that would be fine. Limited appeal — and limited production — is a strategy that has worked for several submodels in the Sportster, Softail, Dyna, and Touring models over the past couple of decades. Everybody wants to be unique, after all, and they want a bike built just for them (we’ll get back to that later).

That wasn’t supposed to be the LiveWire’s fate, though. Harley-Davidson spent untold millions of dollars developing the LiveWire, and they expect a return on that investment in the form of sales that are yet to materialize.

Now, I’m not calling the LiveWire a failure. It’s a great bike, and it’s gotten more good press for Harley-Davidson than just about anything else they’ve done in my lifetime. However, given the company’s current financial situation, they simply cannot afford any more LiveWires. Zeitz knows this, and it’s a big part of the reason why new product launches like the Bronx and Pan America have been postponed.

Being Clever

So what is Harley-Davidson’s new path to success? First, we need to take a look at the company’s image. First and foremost, Harley-Davidson is a staunchly American company. When you buy a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, you’re getting it with a side order of freedom, individuality, and Americana.

Being clever has always been at the center of the American identity. In our country’s short history, we’ve accomplished so much, and shared so many great inventions and discoveries with the world. Is it because we’re the smartest? No. It’s because we’re the most clever sonsabitches on the planet.

Being clever got us the assembly line. Being clever got us into the air before anyone else. Hell, it got us into space, too, and being clever got our boys home when things broke on our way to the moon for the third time. Imagine if Apollo 13 would’ve happened to the Soviets. They would have hidden that disaster from the public for decades. Americans? “Hey, watch this!”

My point is, the LiveWire was a very smart decision for Harley-Davidson. Brilliant, even. But genius costs the big bucks, and The Motor Company doesn’t have that kind of scratch to throw around anymore. They need less smart, more clever.

A Blank Slate For Millennials

Enter the new Softail Standard. I’m 31, so I’m right in Harley-Davidson’s target market, and I love it. I’ve been hot on the new Softails since they came out a couple years back, but I had resigned myself to the fact that I’ll have to wait a few years and buy one used. That is, until the Softail Standard came out earlier this year.

What do you think this submodel cost Harley-Davidson to develop? It certainly didn’t cost in the millions like the LiveWire. Harley-Davidson needs less smart million-dollar ideas. They need more clever zero-dollar ideas.

Here, I get the new frame, the new forks, the new swingarm, and most importantly, the awesome new Milwaukee Eight engine, and I get it all for a bit over thirteen grand. Now, I can finally start to dream about owning a brand new Softail.

Best of all, it’s got a great retro look, reminiscent of the Softail Standards from the 1980s and 1990s. As much as folks my age say we don’t want to ride the bikes our parents rode (OK, boomer), the 1980s and 1990s aesthetic is red hot with the Millennial crowd right now.

More importantly, the bike is designed as a blank slate. Minimal chrome, and like Henry Ford (the inventor of the assembly line) said, “you can have it in any color, so long as it’s black.” Even the air cleaner is just a plain black pie tin.

We’re all special snowflakes, right? No factory “custom” bike is good enough for Millennials. Imagine the embarrassment of showing up to some event with the same paint, seat, and pinstriping as the other guy. What are you, some kind of sheep? My bike has to be one of a kind, just like me.

That means I have to do it myself, hand-picking the parts I want to install on my bike. Did I mention yet that one of Zeitz’s plans is to focus more on Harley-Davidson’s parts and accessories business?

My Softail

Ask any advertising geek, and they’ll tell you that the most powerful thing in the world is a customer putting the word “my” in front of the name of your product. Mental ownership. Visualization. Once that happens, it’s only a matter of time before the dream becomes a reality. If those advertising geeks are doing their job, they’ve convinced that customer that it was their idea in the first place.

It’s the same reason you don’t go grocery shopping when you’re hungry. Diet be damned, if I start thinking about how good it would be to wolf down a bag of Oreos, I’m buying the damn Oreos.

Harley-Davidson’s product development and advertising teams have done their job. I’ve spent many lazy hours dreaming about what it would feel like to stroll into the dealer and ride out on my Softail Standard. How I’ll personalize it make it all mine. Where I’ll ride it, and who I’ll take with me.

It’s just a matter of time. Stay the course, Harley-Davidson. I’ll be there soon.

Photos: Harley-Davidson