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Give it up: Why you're not getting a Harley-Davidson Bronx

When I was attending the press launch of the Harley-Davidson Street Glide and Road Glide recently, I was in an after-hours conversation with a long-time Harley-Davidson employee who was noting — "complaining" is too strong a word for the good-natured comments — that whenever the Motor Company introduces new models, the immediate response from a certain segment of riders is always, "But what about the Bronx?"

It's understandable that some people inside Harley-Davidson are tired of hearing it. We hear it here, too, just about every time Common Tread posts a story on anything related to Harley-Davidson. It even came up in Zack's recent Daily Rider review of the Harley-Davidson Nightster.

I get it. Lots of people want Harley-Davidson to build the Bronx. Here's the deal, though. It's not going to happen. You might as well get over it.

#motorcycle #Harley #HarleyDavidson

#motorcycle #harleydavidson #harley

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Neil E. Hodges
Neil E. Hodges
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Under Zeitz, Harley-Davidson is selling fewer motorcycles but making more profit on each one. In the financial report recently released, Harley-Davidson shipped 7% fewer motorcycles globally (10% fewer in the main North American market) in 2023 than in 2022, but revenue was down just 1%. Zeitz brags about how many models have been eliminated from the lineup. And what did Zeitz brag about most on the conference call about the financial results? Profitability. He noted that in 2019 Harley-Davidson made a profit of $1,300 per motorcycle sold. In 2023, that figure was $3,700 per motorcycle sold.
This is exactly the kind of competitive, lower margin segment Zeitz dislikes. It's the same reason that a Pan America 975 that some of us half expected to see this year did not materialize. In fact, Harley-Davidson went the other direction. Instead of adding a Pan America 975 at the lower end of the range to the Pan America 1250 and 1250 Special, Harley-Davidson went the opposite direction, eliminating the base 1250 and adding the $28,399 CVO Pan America. So $20,000 is now the starting point for a Harley-Davidson adventure-tourer. That's the prevailing wind in the company: not toward more affordable and more accessible, but toward more premium and more profitable.

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