Posted on 05/15/2018 5:52:21 AM PDT by ChicagoConservative27
Harley-Davidson, the iconic American motorcycle company, is set to lay off hundreds of American workers at its Kansas City, Missouri factory while creating jobs in Thailand. After laying off nearly 200 American manufacturing workers last year, as Breitbart News reported, Harley-Davidson is expected to fully close its Kansas City manufacturing facility, leaving 800 workers out of work.
Harley-Davidson executives say about 400 jobs will be sent to the corporations York, Pennsylvania manufacturing plant, but union workers allege their jobs are being sent overseas to Thailand.
In remarks to USA Today, a manufacturing worker whos been at Harley-Davidson for more than 20 years will lose his job at the Kansas City Harley-Davidson facility. He says his job is going to Bangkok, Thailand, where the corporation is expanding jobs.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Who is Harry Davidson you might ask....
Thailand? (obligatory reference)
Laying off Americans to save on labor for a grossly-overpriced scooter. Murica! /s
I found him.
The Duke Symphony Orchestra, directed by Harry Davidson, numbers some 80-100 players and draws its membership almost entirely from the student body.
So get big bikes made in Thailand and make a dent in the Asian market.
And from what I see, the Harley resurgence of the 90s is almost gone, but the inventory is high.
It has always been my impression that those that prefer Harley motorcycles despise Asian bikes. This may be another case where a business does not fully understand their customers.
I hope their sales plummet. I hate listening to these POS cycles go by. South Park had Harley riders nailed correctly.
Laying off Americans to save on labor for a grossly-overpriced scooter. Murica! /s
Yah, for sure. Harley has bigger problems than laying off a mere 400 employees. Their market base is old, aging out, dying. Consequently, sales and revenue is dropping. Harley, if it wants to survive, must come up with bikes that excite millennials, young folks....
Yes a boomer / Harry Dent phenomenon. Harry was ( he maybe retired ) Mutual Fund wonk who followed the spending patterns of boomers via their wants and needs and yes H.D. was one of his picks / to add to the portfolio.
Overseas to beat tariffs on the way in? Hmmm.... Private message coming...
” union workers”
Found the problem.
“Harley, if it wants to survive, must come up with bikes that excite millennials, young folks”
They’ll have to be sold under a different name. You’ll ruin the name if you make a cheap version.
Bad move. Their brand equity is that they are the American motor cycle company. Honda makes great bikes that look similar, but to many folk they don’t cut it because, well, they just aint Harley’s. But what happens when Harley’s aint Harley’s anymore, except for the sticker on them?
They just cant compete with the quality and inovation of Japanese and German bikes. All they have going is the sound, and that got old.
How I loathe the Harley sound-I really pray this company tanks. Its a plague of brutal noise pollution and air pollution in some of the most beautiful areas here in Canada. . At 90-100 dB, they destroy hearing pretty efficiently too. Packs of mid-life crisis hubbies riding their HELOC Harleys have destroyed every scenic country road every summer weekend here. We have a cabin 5 miles offshore in Georgian Bay and we can still hear them. God knows what the mainland cottages experience when a pack of 50 of them go by. It’s really one of the great mysteries why some folks seem incapable of having a good time without bad music and modified exhausts and not giving a crap who they disturb.
HD, over-rated status symbols.
Go out, get a 70s or 80s japan bike, bob it and its cooler and hipper than any factory HD on the road.
Ditto.
Never understood and never will why a motor vehicle with four wheels legally require mufflers and cats while 2 wheel vehicles can run a straight pipe 2 1/2 to 3 feet long producing ear piercing noise.
Personally can never ride a loud bike. Its not pleasant and certainly rude and inconsiderate.
They've tried. And failed. The Buell. The V-rod. The Dyna line. All were innovative, but just didn't sell. So Harley scrapped them.
They just keep trying to sell higher and higher priced bikes to the geriatric crowd which is riding less and less. CVO Limited for $43000? Seriously?
800 pound bikes with maybe 60 HP? My Triumph '15 Tiger Explorer is 600 pounds with 140 HP.
Some lighter sport bikes are even more HP.
Nostalgia just isn't going to cut it. Son's of Anarchy sold a lot of bikes for HD, but I don't think millennials watch rerun tv.
Harley, a Rice Burner! Ha!
It’s that $27,000 median price tag that’s killing sales of many brands. Even BMW is having a harder time selling their bikes at $27,000.
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