I have a rough theory about the LiveWire’s launch and pricing:

1. Harley-Davidson’s market research likely indicates that while potential customers are warm to an electric motorcycle in theory, technological limitations of range and charging time, and the currently primitive charging infrastructure, make them unlikely to pull the trigger on any electric motorcycle in practice, at _any_ plausible price. (Zero’s sales, last reported in the very low four digits annually, would seem to bear this out.)

2. However, the MoCo has concluded that there is a lot of _goodwill_ to be gained by being _in_ the electric motorcycle market, now, with a real, for-sale bike and not merely a concept showbike (from the environmentally-conscious; from millennial and Gen Z prospective riders who like the idea, if not the practicality, of an electric motorcycle), but not a lot of _profit_ to be gained from trying to move large numbers of electric motorcycles. At the margin, LiveWire’s goodwill may be transferred ("halo effect") to its internal-combustion bikes. Buyers who want an electric but find them still too impractical, may be willing to give H-D a look for an internal-combustion bike because – unlike the other manufacturers of internal-combustion bikes – H-D is actually trying to bring about the environmentally-conscious, electric-bike future and putting their money where their mouth is.

3. In these circumstances, the MoCo has concluded that the best way to use the LiveWire launch is to establish a market _position_ at the top end of what they see as a still-nascent market, rather than to try to compete for market _share_ in a market that is still too small to sustain a viable business. (Remember, Zero is still operating on venture capital. It likely isn’t _yet_ turning much, if any, profit.)

4. This market positioning has the added competitive advantage of disrupting Zero’s market positioning and narrative. In press accounts, Zero is presented as the Tesla of electric motorcycles. As this Matt Laidlaw video indicates (https://youtu.be/TkSARmOrp-I), however, Harley-Davidson has built a bike to the level of fit and finish (and price) to _be_ the Tesla of electric motorcycles. Zero is now the budget alternative to the Tesla of electric motorcycles, not the Tesla itself. This positioning also establishes LiveWire as the aspirational electric motorcycle, much as Harley-Davidson cruisers and baggers are the aspirational models in their classes.

5. By pricing LiveWire so high relative to the hopes of the online commentariat, Harley-Davidson has captured virtually all of the mindshare surrounding electric motorcycles. Ask people at random after this week to name an electric motorcycle. If they can name one at all, it is likely to be LiveWire. The only people who will name Zero (or another, even more obscure brand) are electric motorcycle geeks and motorcycle industry cognoscenti. The online furor over the price today is a long-term public relations coup for the MoCo.

6. If the above is correct, Harley-Davidson is likely building relatively few LiveWires for release in 2019, and is hoping this unannounced number of $29,799 LiveWires will sellout to early adopters in the currently-underway preorder. Stage-managed correctly, that sellout could be used to suggest that the electric motorcycle has arrived and thereby kick-start the market into post-nascence and (once the technology and infrastructure improve to make electric bikes viable alternatives to a main, internal-combustion bike) profitability.

Of course, whether this will all work to the MoCo’s ultimate advantage is another question.