Harley’s Making Moves

Harley-Davidson is going through some serious restructuring, and the company has had to make plenty of tough decisions. It announced its Rewire strategy, and that entailed some shakeups on a global scale and some reworking of its lineup. As of now, the company will close up shop in India and it will pull the Sportster lineup from Europe. 

Actually, about a dozen models will leave European shores due to the fact that Harley won’t upgrade the engines for Euro 5 emissions standards.

The intention behind this move is to save money. Moto Station reached out to Harley-Davidson France. A company representative noted that the Sportsters weren’t selling well enough to warrant the upgrade to Euro 5 standards. In 2021, European riders will see the last of the Harley Sportster.

That’s not to say Harley doesn’t have a replacement on the horizon. There’s always the chance that the company will add another, similar bike in the future to the European market.

As far as India goes, the company will stop all production, sales, and operations there. The move will “boost restructuring expenses this year to about $169 million,” according to Bloomberg.

Again, this might not be forever. Once Harley gets its feet back under it and has things rolling along well, it may re-think about entering the Indian market. It could even do so with its Chinese-made small-displacement bike, the 338R.

Needless to say, Harley is struggling, but it seems to be trying hard to right the ship. Let’s hope it can do what it needs to do.

Source: MotorbikeWriter.com