Harley Davidson

3 Weaknesses of Harley:

First, the Hell's Angel's image, the Company and its hefty motorcycles have left indelible markets on American culture, giving rise to the rebellious motorcycle culture presented in the movies "The Wild One" in 1953 and "Easy Rider" in 1969. The movie depicted images of motorcyclists associated to black leather jackets, gangs and violence. With these images in mind, many people strayed away from purchasing motorcycles from Harley as they will be placed in a certain category by the society. Thus, the Company has faced negative reactions from the buying public, who connected the company to the biker gang.

Since the formation of Hells Angels, Harley Davidson has been their motorcycle of choice. The motorcycle gangs were the long time loyal customers, who depended on the Company for equipment, but not their only customers. The majority of people who purchased motorcycles, had no involvement in a biker gang, but were fearful of others thinking they were. When the Harley-Angels connection formed, some customers took their loyalty elsewhere. Throughout certain points in the history of the company, they've blamed their financial problems on the biker gang. They claimed that when the Hells Angels make the front page, sales plummeted.

Secondly, the Harley Owner Group has relied on lifestyle marketing. For those who don't know, lifestyle marketing essentially is a promotional activity shaped around the interests, attitudes, opinions, and way of life of consumers, lifestyle marketing works best when companies are able to connect with how their potential customers live. Along the way, the Company has attracted thousands of fans who love the freedom-of-the-road lifestyles and the bike's classic chrome and metal look. When bike consumers purchase a Harley, they're actually buying an image and a lifestyle first and a motorcycle second. In addition, the Company also depended on being a faddish baby-boomer icon. Aging baby boomers form Harley Davidson's customer base. The median age of Harley buyers is 46, whereas the industry average is 38. This becomes an issue for Harley because even though they have plenty of boomers left. But in the long run, the most critical issue of Harley is whether buyers will start looking at Harley as the old guy's bike. Although Harley dominates the North American heavyweight market, it comes in second to Honda. Younger riders and those overseas in places such as Asia prefer the faster and cheaper Japanese sports bikes that cost less than the $15,000