Harley move production to Thailand

[Texas Pete]

After the latest controversy for the management in charge of Harley Davison and their woke initiatives, Harley management now announce production shifts to Thailand.

[Texas Pete]

News video seems blocked unless on YouTube site. Trying another video

[JerryHawk250]

There's a setting in YouTube for the creator that block people from posting on other sites.

[GypsyR]

Nothing woke about it if you ask me. They already had that plant in Thailand (among other productions facilities in various foreign countries) for years. They are aiming to ramp up production there so they can sell more bikes to China. If they are made in Thailand that enables them to bypass the Chinese 25% import tariff on "American" motorcycles. Since the tariff is worded to only tax bikes actually built in the USA, not owned or branded as America. If China doesn't/won't absorb enough production from there then of course they'll export the bikes elsewhere too. Just business.

I don't get about H-D being supposed to be so "American" really. I mean the front forks on every Harley haven't been made in the US since as far back as the 1970's. Not like them outsourcing stuff from other countries (like about every other American business) is a new thing to get panties all wadded up about.

The videos don't seem to work for me as linked. Pretty sure they are BS I don't care to watch anyway.

[bigdano711]

I've owned exactly one in my life, which is more than a lot of people can say. Great experience, I feel absolutely no need to repeat it. I would certainly never buy one new unless I hit the lottery or otherwise had money to burn. Even then, probably not.

[Ranger Bob]

Originally Posted by GypsyR

Nothing woke about it if you ask me. They already had that plant in Thailand (among other productions facilities in various foreign countries) for years. They are aiming to ramp up production there so they can sell more bikes to China. If they are made in Thailand that enables them to bypass the Chinese 25% import tariff on "American" motorcycles. Since the tariff is worded to only tax bikes actually built in the USA, not owned or branded as America. If China doesn't/won't absorb enough production from there then of course they'll export the bikes elsewhere too. Just business.

I don't get about H-D being supposed to be so "American" really. I mean the front forks on every Harley haven't been made in the US since as far back as the 1970's. Not like them outsourcing stuff from other countries (like about every other American business) is a new thing to get panties all wadded up about.

The videos don't seem to work for me as linked. Pretty sure they are BS I don't care to watch anyway.

Tha Pan America and Sportster models will be returned to the US market as well with no price reduction for being built in Thailand at lower labor rates. I think the biggest issue is Harley quoted in the past that all of their bikes for the American market would be built in America with American workers. This doesn't settle well with the Harley crowd. The American workers building the Pan America and Sportster models won't lose their jobs yet because Harley just received a Dept. of Energy grant of $89 million dollars of tax payers money for their Livewire failure to continue. Projections called for 15,736 Livewire units for 2024. In the first quarter of this year Livewire has sold 275. I hope Harley survives this issue, they are the iconic American brand. If not there's always the SWM Stormbreaker...

[Sport Rider]

Originally Posted by Ranger Bob

Tha Pan America and Sportster models will be returned to the US market as well with no price reduction for being built in Thailand at lower labor rates. I think the biggest issue is Harley quoted in the past that all of their bikes for the American market would be built in America with American workers. This doesn't settle well with the Harley crowd. The American workers building the Pan America and Sportster models won't lose their jobs yet because Harley just received a Dept. of Energy grant of $89 million dollars of tax payers money for their Livewire failure to continue. Projections called for 15,736 Livewire units for 2024. In the first quarter of this year Livewire has sold 275. I hope Harley survives this issue, they are the iconic American brand. If not there's always the SWM Stormbreaker...

the issue at hand, as I understand it, isn't directly related to the migration of work to Thailand, it's the DEI steps they have taken within the company. As I have heard, Indian took down any references to the subject from their site so as not to incite any anger from their customer base. The CEO of HD was very public about his perspective on it. Again, that's what I understand of what's going on.

I happened to be at a local bike night last night. I've heard a number of comments about people de-badging their bikes in protest. I did not see any Harleys which were de-badged. I did see the videos of Sturgis showing the near-empty HD site. Not sure if it's representative of the entire rally, but people have made a big deal about it.

[Mikd]

It's quite interesting when you see companies with a fiduciary responsibility to thier shareholders making public statements that they absolutely know will upset a large portion of thier customer base. The underlying power of the ESG investing strategy and its rating program must be deemed more important than actual sales. Western companies have been accused of having a short term or "quarterly" outlook for quite some time and this does at least appear to be the case. The effects of institutional investing displays the pitfalls associated with the consolation of power into ever smaller groups.

[GypsyR]

I think Willie G. was probably the last person at the company "in touch with their base". Upper management are not motorcycle people, they are business school grads.
Many years ago I knew some of the guys socially and professionally that worked at the local Harley dealership. I went in one day looking for a part and the one I knew best informed me that my bike was now "too old". The dealerships would no longer be selling parts for it nor accepting it in for service. Not that I let anyone work on my bike but the message was clear, "You and your old crap are no longer welcome here." I never went back. Also I went home, got online, and sold my stock in H-D that I had been holding since the initial stock offering. Because I figured they lost touch with their base right then. That was like 15 years ago.

Back when I first got into Harleys it was the mid-1980's. I had to about climb over last year's new Sportsters and such to get to the parts counter. Maybe 10-12 years later I went to a huge dealership in Nashville. Giant two story showroom. With two bikes in it. One not for sale and the other a dresser a few years old. Hmmm. Now it's 2024 and I notice that every morning the local dealership has to roll about 30 bikes outside every morning so there's room to walk inside. 1986 all over again.

Short-sighted business majors and business practices that make them focus only on quarterly profits and "enhancing shareholder value" can run any company into the ground eventually.

[Thumper]

It would take an essay to unpack the politics behind objections to DEI, but it really is the root of anti-wokism. The stupid thing is that while we argue about LGBTI (is that the correct acronym?), and DEI, the world is getting toasted. It is so much more important than all of this social hand wringing.

I am all for hiring the best qualified, etc, but we all see certain well qualified people getting excluded based on these things. The problem is that social engineering just doesn't work. Universities have begun rolling back their DEI departments to save their funding due to threats from State Legislators. People are removing their pronouns from their official signatures, quietly. It's called backlash!

But, the bigger problem is that we have bigger problems.. Much bigger
https://www.chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=34566

[bigdano711]

Talking about bigger problems, I just got into the Roseanne Barr podcast on YouTube. She just interviewed this Supreme Badass doctor named Dr. Lois Lee. God bless the good doctor for the work she's been doing for 40+ years and God bless Roseanne Barr. I can totally see her rolling through and giving the girls a carton of smokes each. lol