Hurley-Davidson Case Study
The Strength of Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson, Inc., the only U.S. motorcycle manufacture still in business, dominated the superheavyweight motorcycle market with a 62.3 percent share while Honda had 16.2 percent, Yamaha had 7.2 percent, Kawasaki had 6.7 percent, Suzuki had 5.1 percent, and BMW had 2.5 percent in 1990 (592&596).
The company also had a number of international markets. Actually, in 1990, approximately 31 percent of the sales were overseas. The company had made efforts to accomplish them. In 1990, it established a European part and accessories warehouse in Frankfurt, Germany. In addition, the company bought out all right distribution in Japan in the same year (596-597). The number of product lines and the attractive series of products are also characteristics for the company. As of 1991, Harley-Davidson offered a line of 20 motorcycles. Other than XLH Sportster 883 and XHL Sportster 883 Hugger which had chain drives, all models were belt driven and had a five-speed transmission. Three of the Sportster models had an 883cc engine and one had a 1200cc engine; all of the remaining model had a 1340cc engine. There are two kinds of models - touring model and standard and cruising types. All of the models exhibited impressive painting and classic styling attributes visually reminiscent of Harley-Davidson motorcycles from the 1950s and 1960s (597-598).
In terms of wide range of products, the company offers a motorcycle that is lower slung and easier to ride in response to an increase of the number of women who buy Hurley motorcycles(602-603). The Hurley-Davidson’s original magazine, Enthusiast, was started publishing to let customers who had a bias to Hurley motorcycles got closer to the products. The catalogs have full color pictures, descriptions of each model, and discussions of the products (602).
In 1990, the Harley Owner Group had 650 chapters and 134,000 members, and, in addition to national, regional, and state rallies and other
Harley-Davidson, Inc., the only U.S. motorcycle manufacture still in business, dominated the superheavyweight motorcycle market with a 62.3 percent share while Honda had 16.2 percent, Yamaha had 7.2 percent, Kawasaki had 6.7 percent, Suzuki had 5.1 percent, and BMW had 2.5 percent in 1990 (592&596).
The company also had a number of international markets. Actually, in 1990, approximately 31 percent of the sales were overseas. The company had made efforts to accomplish them. In 1990, it established a European part and accessories warehouse in Frankfurt, Germany. In addition, the company bought out all right distribution in Japan in the same year (596-597). The number of product lines and the attractive series of products are also characteristics for the company. As of 1991, Harley-Davidson offered a line of 20 motorcycles. Other than XLH Sportster 883 and XHL Sportster 883 Hugger which had chain drives, all models were belt driven and had a five-speed transmission. Three of the Sportster models had an 883cc engine and one had a 1200cc engine; all of the remaining model had a 1340cc engine. There are two kinds of models - touring model and standard and cruising types. All of the models exhibited impressive painting and classic styling attributes visually reminiscent of Harley-Davidson motorcycles from the 1950s and 1960s (597-598).
In terms of wide range of products, the company offers a motorcycle that is lower slung and easier to ride in response to an increase of the number of women who buy Hurley motorcycles(602-603). The Hurley-Davidson’s original magazine, Enthusiast, was started publishing to let customers who had a bias to Hurley motorcycles got closer to the products. The catalogs have full color pictures, descriptions of each model, and discussions of the products (602).
In 1990, the Harley Owner Group had 650 chapters and 134,000 members, and, in addition to national, regional, and state rallies and other