As a former motorcyclist (actually, I still have a motorcycle endorsement on my driver's licence) I am saddened to see what Harley Davidson has become. Mike McDaniel has the story at the American Thinker today entitled Harley Davidson goes woke?. Apparently, H-D hired a German...German?...to be its CEO, and he doesn't know motorcycles, but does know all the latest buzz words and stupid ideas coming out of business schools. If you know Harley, then you know that making Harley Davidson motorcycles electric will kill the company. The Motor Company has been making V-Twin motorcycles for over a hundred years, and the unique sound of a V-Twin is part of the lore of H-D. McDaniel notes:
There are some brands strongly identified with America, with American values and ideals and with American design and quality. They’re known and coveted around the world, prestige symbols here and abroad. That’s why it’s so dumbfounding when the makers of those profitable, iconic, products do incredibly stupid things to fix what isn’t broken.
Remember “New Coke?” “Crystal Pepsi?” Those dimwitted marketing stunts were pre-woke, pushed by people who thought they knew better than Americans what Americans wanted.
In the woke era in which we currently suffer, the most notorious example of marketing dimwittery is Budweiser’s abortive association with trans Tinkerbell Dylan Mulvaney. Not only did a newly minted marketing executive think that a good idea, she also insulted Bud’s customer base, telling them, in essence, they‘d better get with the woke program or be left behind. That bit of legendary marketing brilliance cost Anheuser-Busch nearly $7 billion in market capitalization virtually overnight, and knocked Bud Lite out of its top spot, a blow from which it has never recovered.
...snip...
It’s inexplicable. Harley owners have long been faithful to Harley, even when there was little to be faithful about. There were long stretches when Harleys were reasonably good machines, but not very good motorcycles, and other stretches when if a motorcycle was broken down at the roadside, it was a 99% certainty it was a Harley. Harleys have never been inexpensive. Yet through all that, Harley owners stuck to their brand and wouldn’t ride foreign-made motorcycles.
Their faithfulness was eventually rewarded. Harleys became much more reliable, retaining their big, rumbling V-twin character, while expanding into an ever-increasing model line of good, reliable, attractive motorcycles that met nearly every motorcycling need and look. For anyone wanting to buy American, Harley was the choice, though Indian has been making some inroads into that demographic. Harley was the all-American motorcycle, the mount of the proudly patriotic--American Iron--a motorcycle like no other.
And then, in 2020, Harley hired as CEO a German, one Jochen Zeitz.
I actually find the idea that companies can hire someone who doesn't know the brand, doesn't even have any experience with the product or a competitor's product. The make that person its CEO, and expect him succeed...it's insane. What were they thinking? For that matter, what was Bud Light thinking? Despite the fact that many of our ancestors came from Europe, we are not like Europeans, any more than Black Americans are like Africans. But the Communist/socialist/Marxist globalists keep insisting that we will be changed...darn it...and fall into their one world government. It ain't gonna happen.
I urge gentle readers to click on the linked articles and go read about how Harley Davidson is betraying Harley owners.
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