Harley-Davidson factory in Europe?

Does a Harley-Davidson assembly plant in Europe make sense?

The plant in Thailand was only set up because of the punitive tariffs, so Harley-Davidson to avoid the punitive tariffs imposed by the EU. However, this was not a safe solution because the EU was already planning to impose punitive tariffs on these vehicles.

Now the question arises as to whether Harley-Davidson is changing its strategy and perhaps thinking about setting up a production facility in Europe. In view of the constantly increasing transport costs, the shortage of containers and delivery times that are actually too long, it is definitely worth considering. Tesla is showing them how, last week, their new factory in Brandenburg opened after a record-breaking construction period of two years and they certainly thought something about making this investment in Germany.

Is a Harley-Davidson factory in Germany realistic?

Harley-Davidson “Made in Germany” , that sounds good. According to Harleysite information, Jochen Zeitz recently visited Bosch, which doesn't mean anything because Bosch has been a supplier of Harley-Davidson parts for a long time. Last year, Bosch launched a new chip factory in Dresden, where semiconductors for microelectronics are produced. A new trend may be developing here, which, in addition to ecological aspects, is gaining ever stronger arguments.

The modular design of the new motorcycles makes this possible.

Many parts can be installed on a wide variety of models, especially when you look into the future. That this development is true was already said when the Revolution Max was presented and we can already see it with the two Revolution Max engine versions. The 1250T engine from the Sportster S has a completely different character than in the Pan America , a lot is possible here in the future. An engine design for many different models is therefore conceivable.

These are the best conditions to operate an assembly plant in Europe efficiently, perhaps not for all models, but for the Softail and Revolution Max series, it would certainly be interesting.

The CVO models come from the USA and the large Grand American Touring models are sold a lot more in the USA than in Europe. The final assembly of the smaller models could be done quickly and flexibly in Europe.

in East Germany, or near a port city like Hamburg or Bremerhaven. You would need a lot less transport capacity, even if labor costs are higher in Europe, speed, short distances and perhaps even a rising share price, as recently seen with Tesla, score points.

Week-long transport routes tie up a lot of capital

But it's hard to say whether people have such thoughts in the USA, but the costs of sea freight and the long transport times are currently a big problem for the Harley-Davidson Company, which in the long term can hardly be solved in any other way.

The production cycles are predetermined, no mass production is carried out and if the new models are not due to be delivered until spring, the time window in which everything has to take place is getting smaller and smaller. Appropriate planning security and adherence to delivery dates are important points these days. In addition, the ever-increasing impression of a planned economy, when vehicles are allocated rather than configured by the customer, is not particularly attractive and ultimately helps no one.

There were already these rumors years ago when Carinthia in Austria campaigned for this idea and the city of Berlin jumped on the bandwagon and also offered itself, but that was more of an illusion.

The idea of a Harley-Davidson assembly plant in Europe isn't that bad, but today it's all more like an April Fool's joke.