https://www.yahoo.com/finance/video/...202800704.html
It's bad enough that HD uses Chinese parts in their U.S. made bikes, now
Harley Davidson is building a plant in Thailand.
I remember reading just a few months ago that the CEO and some executives from HD met Trump at the White House.

 

This is a big So what?!

 

They already have a plant in India. . . you did know that, right?

 

The reason they're building the plant in Thailand is because they want to sell bikes there, and importing bikes into that country subjects them to a 60% import tax, which prices them bikes out of reach. Bikes assembled in there are not subject to this tax.

 

The MoCo's annual profits will still be subjected to US taxes so we still benefit from the overseas sales. So long as these bikes don't end up in US dealerships it's fine with me.

 

Old news

 

It'll save a lot of shipping costs to Asia, that's being shipped right now from the US. It makes sense.

 

it's a facility which assembles "complete, knocked down" (CKD) kits for final assembly. the bikes will still be manufactured here, except for the final assembly steps. The kits get shipped to Thailand for assembly.

Thailand has a 60% tariff on imported motorcycles, so having CKD kits assembled there gets around that.

it's the same thing Mercedes did when they started selling the Sprinter van here. we have a 25% tariff on imported trucks, so they shipped CKD kits to South Carolina for final assembly.

it would be silly for them to ship unassembled bikes halfway around the world just to have them put together and shipped back.

 

Nothing is 100% American, or Chinese, or German, etc. Even Chinese bikes use parts from all over the world. Of course I'd prefer my car (Mustang GT) and bike to be built here but the truth is a lot of it's parts were built somewhere else to save money. If they couldn't do that then some vehicles would never become a reality. Especially the lower volume ones.

 

What does made in America mean? Ford and Dodge in Mexico or Toyota and Nissan in the USA?