Harley-Davidson is bringing the LiveWire Project to the streets in 2019
The LiveWire Project is not new; in November 2014, Harley-Davidson presented its first electric bike at the EICMA in Madrid. The world was astonished when the traditional sound manufacturer suddenly conjured up an electric motorcycle. The e-bike already looked very modern in 2014 and is very far along in its development at this point. Various extensive test runs in 2015 made it clear how seriously the company is working on the LiveWire Project in a future-oriented manner.
According to company boss Matt Levatich, the bike will only come onto the market when the batteries offer sufficient range. In spring 2017, Harley-Davidson was specifically looking for new employees for the electrical engineering sector in the USA.
The Harley-Davidson electric bike will come onto the market in series in mid-2019
Now Harley-Davidson has announced in its annual report that it will be ready in the summer of 2019. The e-bike is expected to hit the road with 55kW (74 hp), and a particularly strong torque will catapult the e-bike forward in four seconds. The pre-production model achieved a top speed of approx. 152 km/h. Modern LED technology was already installed on the prototypes in 2014. The similarity between the LED headlight of the new Softail Breakout 2018 and the LiveWire is astonishing and shows once again how long and intensive Harley has been -Davidson designs new series before the motorcycles come onto the market in series.
It's good for the company that it is involved in this area, even if it doesn't appeal to every Harley fan at the moment, we see the same development in the car market, anyone who misses the time in the area of electric vehicles will almost certainly go under , these paths have been determined by politics for a long time, anyone who doesn't recognize this will lose in the long run.
Two new 1200 Sportster models are expected this summer
In 2019, the group closed its final assembly plant in Kansas City, Missouri due to falling sales figures and relocated part of the workforce and production to York, Pennsylvania. The Dyna, Sportster and V-Rod models were built in Kansas, which already shows us that only the Sportster is still built in this area for our market. We expect two new 1200 models from the Sportster in the summer and possibly the end of the 883 series.
The York factory is becoming increasingly important for Harley-Davidson, the new 2018 Softail models are already being built here and the company will focus more on this location in the future.
The new 2018 Softail models were introduced in the summer of 2017 and caused quite a stir in the scene. Fans of the discontinued Dyna series are not so enthusiastic, but will get used to the new concept over time. The new models have already been test driven at events and at authorized dealers, and there are already various new accessories for customizing the bikes, although they actually only really hit the streets in spring. The new engines have plenty of power and the newly designed frame concept is almost perfect. Even if there are differences between the models, it offers excellent handling and in combination with the performance it has all become quite sporty.
We can't wait to see what surprises Harley-Davidson will bring in 2018.
