MoCo Kicks Off 2019 Ready to Ride into the Future
Despite a nasty tumble on the stock market, Harley-Davidson believes its electric motorcycles will turn it all around.
The last year has been a bit rough for Harley-Davidson, to say the least. From tariff wars to an aging ridership with few younger riders rolling in, the MoCo has had to ride around a few bad spots on the road, nothing it hasn’t done before.
There’s another rough patch coming up, though. According to Yahoo Finance, the MoCo stumbled on the stock market last week after it revealed its Q4 2018 earnings missed the mark, as well as pushing a cautiously optimistic outlook for 2019.
Per Yahoo Finance, Harley CEO Matthew Levatich says the rough ride of 2018 is expected to “persist” into 2019, but he also sees a light at the end of the tunnel, in the form of pre-orders for the MoCo’s first shot into the 2020s, the LiveWire. The all-electric motorcycle is the first in a series of such rides to come, all with the aim of bringing in younger riders who would normally give the MoCo a pass.
In fiscal year 2018, Harley sold 228,000 bikes, including 52,000 to first-time Harley owners. For the new fiscal year, the MoCo expects to move between 217,000 and 222,000 units, and hopes to draw 2 million new riders by 2027 with rides like the electric scooter and electric dirt bike concepts it unveiled in January 2019 at the X-Games in Aspen, Colorado, both set for showroom debuts in the next decade.
The three electric Harleys are just the opening salvo for the MoCo, with plans to release 100 “high impact” models by 2027, several of which will be electric.
Though the cautious optimism for the final year of the New ’10s is warranted, there’s no doubt Harley will be ready for the silver future of the 2020s months away.
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