Harley-Davidson is screwed.
Its sales have declined year-over-year. The company's traditional customers are aging out. New customers aren't being brought into the fold, at least not with new motorcycles. And LiveWire, the brand's electric off-shoot, will be studied in economy classes in the not-too-distant future as "WTF were they thinking?"
The iconic Motor Co. is barreling down a path toward inevitable doom. Yet, while the permanently online grifters and a host of mainstream media players will parrot the idea that this was all caused by the company's "woke" policies and its dalliance in "DEI," this is strictly a mess of Harley's own making.
Folks, DEI and being woke—whatever that means—isn't what caused Harley to falter as badly as it is. Not paying attention to the world around them and failing to adapt, that's what's did Harley in.
The good ole days for Harley weren't the swinging '60s or groovy '70s, the eras that most folks associate with the brand. Rather, the good times came during the late '80s and into the '90s. Boomers were flush with cash, interest rates were nonexistent, home prices were essentially what a bagel and cream cheese now costs, and this generation had money to burn on nonessential frivolity.
Basically, the opposite of today.
And this generation idolized those folks who were adults in the '60s and '70s, as they were real, they did the things, they wore the leather, they rode across the country on their "Hogs." They invented, "Hell yeah, brother." Boomers didn't get to experience that, so they decided to cosplay for lack of a better word. And Harley's executives, being the savvy businesspeople they were, saw an opportunity to sell a fake lifestyle to dentists, soccer coaches, middle managers, and a whole host of others who wanted a weekend outlaw experience.
It worked, too. Boomers bought Harley's offerings in droves. And with those sales, those same executives started increasing the prices of the company's offerings. First gradually, then getting up into the price of a very nice new car. Think $30,000 cruisers and baggers. This went on for years as sales continually went up and up and up. Harley could do no wrong and Boomers just kept buying new motorcycles.
But then a whole host of generational changes happened.
2008 occurred. Housing prices went through the roof. College debt skyrocketed. Jobs left the country. Interest rates blasted off into the stratosphere. Wages stagnated. The cost of everyday items lost their minds as corporate greed fueled inflation. And millennials, the folks most affected by all these changes, became the dominant buying generation.
It became pretty clear early on that this new generation didn't have a lot of discretionary income. Yet, in all its wisdom, Harley kept on steady as she goes-ing. It kept attempting to sell $30,000 full-dress baggers. Kept pumping out Boomer-centric motorcycles. Kept selling a lifestyle that only attracted an aging demographic. Kept pushing forward with its "hell or high water" cruisers and didn't invest in anything that might attract a 20- to 30-something who still wants a motorcycle but doesn't want a car-priced motorcycle that's trash to ride.
Look at Harley's lineup right now. It's just the same style of bike over and over again, apart from the Pan America. But that bike is mostly forgotton by Harley's marketing department after its flashy debut. Harley-Davidson's executives just couldn't get past the Boomer cosplay. And we're now seeing that all play out as each successive year gets worse and worse for the Motor Co. And it wasn't because of progressive politics.
DEI wasn't even employed at Harley, not to any real effect. It was a single line in the corporate statements and was done to appease...someone? No clue, but Harley didn't actually change any policies. And wokeness? Jesus, folks, this is Harley we're talking about. The reason it's failing, as described above, is because it's catered so freakin' hard toward an age group that hates the term. Look at Harley's website. It's just old white dudes. And if you ever turn up to a dealership, again, it's just old white dudes. And if you ever go to a rally, something like a Sturgis, it's old white dudes. It's all just old white dudes.
There's not a woke bone in Harley's body. And that's what's killing the brand, because old white dudes only have so much money.
Harley has been catering toward the exact same group of individuals since the late '70s. It's built an entire culture and business plan around this fake idea of American motorcycling that has to involve a cruiser, bagger, or some type of Sportster bar hopper. Every single one of Harley's bikes cost an arm, a leg, and your dignity. And because of it, Harley is seen as old, crusty, and representing a generation that's becoming more and more disconnected from reality.
No one can afford that reality, whether its financially or rhetorically. That, my dear friends, is a recipe for disaster. That's what's killing Harley-Davidson.
So, no, Harley isn't dying because of its DEI or wokeness. It's not dying because some F-tier internet troll called them out because of nonexistent progressive policies. It's not dying because it's pushed manufacturing to Thailand or India or even outside of Wisconsin.
Harley-Davidson is dying because of the decisions it's made over the last thirty years. It's dying because it keeps catering toward a demographic that's become at odds with reality. It's dying because it sells $30,000 motorcycles that are constantly recalled. It's dying because it's failed to adapt.
And as Charles Darwin once put it, "Adapt or die," probably.
