Harley-Davidson's Marketing Strategy

Harley-Davidson was founded in 1903 by Bill Harley and three brothers (the Davidsons). The company dominated the superheavyweight class of motorcycle for most of its history, but suffered severe quality problems during the 1970s and early 1980s. Some dealers found that they had to make repairs on bikes delivered from the factory before they could sell them, and stories circulated throughout the industry that Harley owners bought two bikes: one to ride, and the other to use as a source of spare parts (Voss, 1993, p. 26).

At the same time, there was increased competition from Japanese manufacturers who produced lighter, cheaper and more dependable motorcycles, and who targeted a different class of rider than Harley. While the super-heavyweights were increasingly

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are from 5.2 percent in 1991 to 5.4 percent in 1992 in the recreational vehicle market. The company is emphasizing travel trailers and fifth-wheel vehicles in this segment. As with the motorcycle segment, Harley emphasizes a lifestyle in its promotional of Holiday Rambler, and organizes caravans similar to those that it organizes for its motorcycle customers. A Holiday club has been formed (similar to the HOG), with 13,000 members as of 1993 (Peak, 1993, p. 55). The Holiday Rambler division has not performed as well as the motorcycle division; the company posted losses in the third quarter of 1993 when compared to the same quarter in the previous year (PR Newswire, 1993, p. 1019NY115). Harley recognized that it needs to estaliblish a stronger presence in the recreational vehicle market, and posted increases in sales in the upper end of that market. To help boost its performance in the recreational vehicle division, the company moved its vehicle dealer meeting to September from August. This was to eliminate the tradition of introducing new model during peak selling months. The result of this move was that dealers held off ordering new model product in August in order to wait and see what the dealer meeting brought forth in
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Approximate Word count = 4069
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page)

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