Supplier issues are now halting Harley-Davidson Softail 2021 production!

Harley-Davidson is now being hit hard because its supplier Bosch is unable to deliver chips for the Softail ABS sensors.

Harley-Davidson was actually already in crisis before the coronavirus pandemic, and the outlook for 2022 does not look any better. The unspeakable battle with the EU, in which the European H-D dealer network is completely overlooked at the political level, clearly shows that motorcycling in general is politically unwelcome.

The increasingly stringent standards, route bans, and stricter dB limits are having a wider and wider impact. The noise emissions of engines are just as much a focus as exhaust systems. The technical implementation of the regulations costs companies vast sums in development, and despite everything, motorcyclists continue to have their fun taken away by route closures. It no longer matters whether the vehicle has been properly approved for road use and is in perfect technical condition.

According to the KBA, the Pan America has appeared in the registration statistics for the first time, otherwise we only find the Fat Bob and the Sport Glide at the end of the top 50 registrations. There is currently talk of a decline of around 30,000, which they hope to offset with a few hundred Sportster S models at the end of the year, and now the bad news is coming from the USA.

Harley-Davidson is canceling all Softail models for Europe that have not yet made it to sea.

Harley-Davidson has canceled various customer orders for the 2021 Softail models that were supposed to be delivered this year and are not yet on their way to Europe. This affects the entire European market and is reportedly due to an ABS chip from Bosch that is used specifically in the Softail series. If the chip cannot be delivered at short notice, the company will have to switch to the 2022 models. Softail production has been at a standstill for around 10 days. At the beginning of September, a cargo ship carrying new Harley-Davidson models for the European market was sent on its way, so those who ordered in time will still be lucky.

Supply bottlenecks at BOSCH

Bosch is currently restructuring and has built a new high-tech semiconductor production plant in Dresden. It is unclear whether this is related to the switch to the new chip factory.

According to Harley-Davidson, it is currently not expected that Bosch's supply bottleneck will be resolved in the short term. This problem also affects other manufacturers, which does not make matters any better. Unfortunately, the outlook is not good for those whose bikes did not make it onto the ship. Once the current shipment arrives, it is unlikely that any more 2021 Softail models will be delivered. There will be price adjustments in 2022, the new colors have already been decided, and any models that no longer appear in the lists will be modified.

The new colors for the 2022 Softail models are already known, but have not been released.

If you are one of those who have ordered a bike that is not yet on its way, you will probably receive a call from your Harley-Davidson dealer shortly. This is a very unfortunate situation for H-D dealers at the moment, and they are calling more than just one customer to inform them about the current status of the situation. If you are affected by the production stoppage, the new colors for the Softail models are already known, and your dealer can show them to you, but according to my information, they don't know any more than that yet.

Delivery capacity was not impressive throughout the year, whether for spare parts or new Harley-Davidson models. And with the shutdown of Harley-Davidson's modern pipeline software, customers no longer have any configuration options; now the motto is, you can order what we can offer you. The dealer can then make a few additional adjustments. While other manufacturers provide an online configurator, Harley-Davidson has fallen behind by a few years and is now looking to whet consumers' appetites.

The Harleysite crystal ball!

The punitive tariffs will cause further problems!

What does the future hold? It doesn't look good: the Green Deal that Ursula von der Leyen has in mind will cause problems for Harley-Davidson and other motorcycle manufacturers. At the moment, it looks more likely that the EU will continue to have no interest in seeing the punitive tariffs disappear into thin air at the end of the year!

Considering the overall situation and listening to the comments made by EU Commission President von der Leyen, who generally shows a lack of understanding for motorcycling, we can certainly expect the EU to trigger stage 2 of the punitive tariffs, in which case Harley-Davidson will pay a punitive tariff of 56% on every motorcycle imported into the EU. This is a very serious problem, not only for Harley-Davidson, but also for all European Harley-Davidson dealers and customers of this traditional brand.

Harley-Davidson is being fleeced by the EU!

Currently, the punitive tariff is 31%, which is completely unfair and puts the company at a significant competitive disadvantage. Most other motorcycle importers pay 61% import duty, and motorcycle exporters shipping from the EU to the US pay only 21% duty there.

What new developments can we expect in 2022?

It has never been as difficult as it is today to obtain reliable information about the next model year. There is very little information available about the planned Harley-Davidson innovations. In addition, Harley-Davidson often changes its strategy at short notice or suddenly comes up with something new. Originally, there was unconfirmed information that Harley-Davidson wanted to announce the 975 Evolution engine at EICMA, which is to be installed in the smaller Sportster, which could cost somewhere around €13,700. In addition, the Pan America with the smaller 975cc Revolution Max engine version is knocking on the door.

Harley-Davidson will not be present at EICMA in 2021

Harley-Davidson will not be present at EICMA this year, which throws everything into disarray once again. Normally, Harley-Davidson was represented at EICMA by H-D UK before Brexit.

There are rumors of a displacement upgrade for the Milwaukee-Eight engines, which was also supposed to be revealed at EICMA, and now the secret will probably be revealed in a modest press release, if it comes to that at all. The online presentation of the new 2022 model series is expected in mid-January. For customers, however, the most important information will be when delivery of the new models to the European market will begin, assuming that an agreement on punitive tariffs will be reached. Otherwise, the chaos will be complete.

A model from the new ICON collection is still expected.

Due to all the circumstances, some things may be delayed, and all in all, it has to be said that the outlook has never been as modest as it is this year. Another model from the Icon Collection It is still expected that this special model will suddenly appear on stage and no one will have known anything about it; they already managed this very well at the Revival. However, it will disappear just as quickly, because the limited edition models are in high demand.

Let's hope that not everything from Harley-Davidson will be completely limited in the future. This would be the case if the EU continues to try to force the US company Harley-Davidson out of the European market using unfair methods.

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