Harley Davidson CEO Forced To Resign.
 

18 months ago Harley CEO Matt Levatich made the HD LiveWire a cornerstone of the iconic company's 21st-century strategy.

The livewire is a cutting edge Electric Motorcycle which initially got rave reviews from the the pro electric Media.

One Problem....Levatich literally bet the future of HD on the Livewire and it did not sell.

Yesterday HD abruptly announced that Levatich will leave his post and seat on Harley's board of directors.

Board member Jochen Zeitz will become acting president and CEO while a board search committee is formed and Harley hires an outside search firm to fill the job.

“The Board and Matt mutually agreed that now is the time for new leadership at Harley-Davidson,” Zeitz said in a prepared statement.

I worked at Harley in Parts & Accessories, Supply Chain, 2012-2015. Easily, the best working experience I had in 44 years.

The problems they are having have little to do with leadership and everything to do with the rapidly shrinking motorcycle customer pie. Had Matt not made the move into electric bikes, that would be touted as a reason for the decline. Previous leadership got them into 500 & 750 cc bikes built in India. Those haven't done much either.

They are smart and sophisticated at marketing their products; chased every market segment there was. Try as they might, the bulk of their customer base has remained aging baby boomers that could afford the product. That group is aging out, selling their bikes and moving on. When I was there, the #1 competitor for a new Harley was a gently used Harley. Supply has exceeded demand.

Next time you are at a car show, take a look around. Do not ask for whom the bell tolls.

They've been sinking themselves for years by their prices. I've built three Harleys and ridden plenty of other bikes over the years. When a buddy killed himself back in 06 I bought a brand new 07 Hayabusa to ride in his memorial ride to say f'u to him for doing it. I paid less than $10k brand new for the worlds fastest straight line production bike. I rode it for 15k miles and enjoyed every minute of it. Harley wants to charge double and triple that for old technology. No thanks. That's why used is their number one competitor. I still love a lot of things Harley, but my last one had the points cover that said "HD" put on upside down. My silent protest lol... My next Street Glide will either be used or built by me if for no other reason than principle.

William,

Suffice to say the proof is in the pudding. Take the IRONE for example.

Who in the world thinks this is a great sales hook for HD and a great way to spend R+D? Do you? Explain please. I am very interested.

The fact remains that the Bell has tolled - for Levatich.

Instead of competing for the motorcycle market that exists today He made recommendations to reinvent a portion of the business model that actually distanced HD from its core buying demographic and was justifiably fired because of those actions.

William,

One more thing this is where Levatich planned to take HD. This is the "Electric Scrambler Concept"

There was only a certain amount of "crazy" that the board of directors at HD were willing to put up with.

Call me crazy but I think that looks cool.


Harley was doing a deal with Alta Motorcycles awhile back but the deal fell apart. Alta ran out of funding and went bankrupt but not before developing a amazing electric dirt-street bike.

Charley

Good point on the collaboration attempt that failed.

Here is how I came to know HD as a kid. Like myself many kids got hooked on HD riding the BAJA - 100 (and its progeny) which was a competitive bike when raced by HD in the 1970’s, and the the SX series bikes which were the step to the sportster and the bigger bikes later on the street.

Hindsight is 20-20. How many kids like myself created riding skills on these small Harleys and then transitioned to the V twin? I think many.

In fact the Aermacchi Harley Davidson collaboration in the 1960's and 1970's was significant given the sales acceleration that HD had in the 1980’s through 2005 at least after the kids who rode the smaller bikes got hooked on the big bikes.

After HD abandoned the starter bike market in the late 1970's the kids still had 15 years to ride and wear out the remaining used small bikes.

This was my first HD:

That's funny! For decades Harley's core demographic has been fat old white guys. Everyone in any room there knows they have to 'distance' themselves from that group. I saw many marketing presentations demonstrating their efforts to reach not only a younger crowd but women, minorities, even LGBTs. I believe they re-designed the Sportster frame to better accommodate women, who are typically shorter. They are also making a big effort to develop ridership in Europe and China but tariffs, the exchange rate and antiquated laws are a challenge.

Another popular whine is that Harley has priced themselves out of the market. The 2020 Sportster has an msrp under $10,000. For the most part, Harley final-assembles bikes right here in the USA. The plants are unionized, workers are well-paid and have good benefits. You cannot have it both ways. I spent my entire career in manufacturing operations; it is very difficult to compete with countries that do not treat workers as well. The manufacturing plant I spent 20 years of my career in is now mostly empty; everything moved to Mexico for $3/hr.

Another reason for high cost is the exclusivity Harley buyers demand. Special models, trim, paint. Very easy to amortize tooling expense over 500,000 units, less so over 5,000.

I truly hope they find a way through this.

You might be seeing Mary Barra going through the same thing in a few years, just saying.

Regarding HD though, the Sportster has to be the worst design in starter bikes. The too-high center of gravity for a beginning biker is just a terrible design, so the redesign to better suit women is probably a better design overall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dua8yF8SAP4

Even today with a 40 year old bike look at the grin on these kids faces...even today.

They are still messing with them!