Harleys to be built in India

So they are doing the reverse of most "outsourcing" aka selling out jobs. They building PARTS in the USA, shipping them to India to be assembled for the INDIAN market.

WTF has Harley lost it's mind. I have riden harleys for years, even through the AMF years. If it's the union getting in the way get rid of the union. you move harley, any part of harley out of the country you will bedoing a disservice to your loyal customer base that has been there for you. There are only a few things you can still get that are American made, and one of them is a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Don't do it. There arew plenty of states that would love to have Harley move in and set up shop. Arizona for one..

Harley no longer builds the majority of there parts, and haven't for several years. The V-Rod is as much metric, as a Yamaha or Honda. The tires on all models come from overseas, the electronics come from overseas, and on any new models all the nuts and bolts come from overseas. So the Icon of American made really goes to Polaris and there Victory model motorcycles more than a Harley Davidson.

Well, unfortunately, almost, if not all ALL makes are forced to buy some parts overseas because "outsourcing" has taken entire markets and productions overseas. There are NO TV's built in the US at ALL. Yet, we buy them. There are many electronic products that can't be found in America standing alone. At least they are building parts here and it is for the Indian market, not ours.

I was mad when I ordered a custom HP computer a few months ago and it's shipping info announced it was coming from Shanghai. SO I looked at my old Toshiba (Japanese products sometimes are built here, but I assumed it was made in Japan) Nope. China. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I specifically bought HP because I thought they were still American made. Nope, not even. Fiorina saw to that. >:(

Yep, we use to say, that Harley Davidson was made in only America. It was the pride that of us that ride Harley's took very seriously, but not we can say it's made all over the world. We have taken an American pride and tossed to the dogs, WTF?

And don't forget to stock up on the China made "motor clothes".

GRR wrote:

Harley no longer builds the majority of there parts, and haven't for several years. The V-Rod is as much metric, as a Yamaha or Honda. The tires on all models come from overseas, the electronics come from overseas, and on any new models all the nuts and bolts come from overseas. So the Icon of American made really goes to Polaris and there Victory model motorcycles more than a Harley Davidson.

Correct I drive a nissan and it was built in Atlanta with more parts made in America than ford or chevy.

As just about everything on the USA and European market is made in Asia or the Orient, what's wrong with having a curry flavoured Harley?

ive rode harleys all my life im 61 now started ridin when i was 14. was gonna buy a new harley next year. but not now i will never own another harley. willie g what the hell are you thinkin, has it come down to the almighty dollar over pride, if thats the case id rather see youm go out of buisness and shut down and never build another harley than build them with muslim labor. that almost makes you a traitor doesent it.

My dry humour appears to have gone over your head, sir. I'm a disgusted as you are about the situation. The quality of the majority of goods make in Asia verges on the disgusting!

wink wrote:

ive rode harleys all my life im 61 now started ridin when i was 14. was gonna buy a new harley next year. but not now i will never own another harley. willie g what the hell are you thinkin, has it come down to the almighty dollar over pride, if thats the case id rather see youm go out of buisness and shut down and never build another harley than build them with muslim labor. that almost makes you a traitor doesent it.

wink wrote:

ive rode harleys all my life im 61 now started ridin when i was 14. was gonna buy a new harley next year. but not now i will never own another harley. willie g what the hell are you thinkin, has it come down to the almighty dollar over pride, if thats the case id rather see youm go out of buisness and shut down and never build another harley than build them with muslim labor. that almost makes you a traitor doesent it.

LMAO...Most Indians are not Muslim, you dumbass cracker.

You guys have lost the plot!! they are only assembled not built in India which turns out more engineers etc than the US yearly.They are CKD's same as in Brazil. It's just a way of cutting taxes and getting a foot in the door worth millions or more. I have been riding harleys since pieces fell off at traffic lights and will continue to do so. Bigoted pea brains!!!

You are correct about outsourcing, however like clothing, the assembling part helps the goods fall apart quicker.Or haven't you been into Macy's lately where 80% of goods are poorly made and designed in Europe and 'thrown together' in China.

And using epithets to make your point is the sign of someone who is well inferior to a mere idiot!

toxic 55 wrote:

You guys have lost the plot!! they are only assembled not built in India which turns out more engineers etc than the US yearly.They are CKD's same as in Brazil. It's just a way of cutting taxes and getting a foot in the door worth millions or more. I have been riding harleys since pieces fell off at traffic lights and will continue to do so. Bigoted pea brains!!!

I am on my third Harley. I will buy a Victory before I buy another. You can outsource new customers.

I have been riding Harleys for as long as I have been riding (Icurrently own 2)Has Harley forgoten where they come from? What about the AMERICAN PRIDE we stood with you thru hard times. Now you want to move? I doubt I,ll ever buy another Harley if its made in another country there will be no pride!!!!!!!

DeeJ wrote:

I am on my third Harley. I will buy a Victory before I buy another. You can outsource new customers.

I agree. Maybe it's time for American Harley owners to design and build three models that are 100 percent American made - ones that sound like Harleys but ride smoother and more comfortably than Harleys.

We stepped up and helped save HD's butt when they were nearly forced out of business and this is the thanks we get. Time to build another American icon that's made in America.

IDIOTS wrote:

I BET THAT JOB HERE IN AMERICA WORKING FOR HARLEY DAVIDSON REQUIRES YOU TO HAVE A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA
OR A COLLEGE DEGREE
BUT IN INDIA A DIRTY OLD MAN THAT HAS NOT SAVE FOR YEARS NEVER BEEN TO SCHOOL CANT READ A BOOK
SMELL LIKE A COW AND GET TO WORK ON A HORSE
IS GOING TO BE DOING YOUR JOB
AND THERE IN AMERICA YOU NEED A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA
PEOPLE HERE IN AMERICA.
SCHOOLS HAS DUMB YOU DOWN BELEIVING YOU NEED A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA OR COLLEGE DEGREE
AND WHEN THAT COMPANY LEAVE AMERICAN THEY
HIRE PEOPLE THAT NEVER BEEN TO SCHOOL CANT READ
AND CAN ONLY COUNT THE FINGER ON THERE HANDS

The typical Indian worker is better educated than the typical cruiser rider in the USA is. John Deere has been making engines there for decades.
By the way you misspelled believing.
The York, PA plant for Harley-Davidson used to employ 4400 people full time, UNION workers. Now they have about 800 and use a number of "casual" employees that they call up when needed.
The Indian Motorcycle market consists of about 12 Million sales per year. Honda, who is about to build a 2nd REAL plant there has about 50% of India's market and is going for more.
Many of the parts on Harley-Davidson motorcycles are sourced from Italy and Japan. So a CKD assembly system makes perfect sense. And just as Harley-Davidson claims that their licensing of Sankyo in 1923 created the Japanese industry (which was subsequently destroyed in the war), they are probably going to claim they jump started the Indian Industry. I'm sure the Hero group would laugh about that.
HD wants to sell 200 to 250 units a year. Honda wants to continue to sell 5 MILLION+ units a year. Honda will top 12 Million this year, motorcycles only.
By the way; a college education in the USA is about the same as high school degree in much of the rest of the world. Many of the 2 MILLION Indian and Pakistani immigrants into the USA each year are college educated doctors and engineers, something the USA doesn't produce many of these past few decades.
When HD fails in the USA perhaps they'll export from India to the USA just as Royal Enfield is doing.

Gunny wrote:

WTF has Harley lost it's mind. I have riden harleys for years, even through the AMF years. If it's the union getting in the way get rid of the union. you move harley, any part of harley out of the country you will bedoing a disservice to your loyal customer base that has been there for you. There are only a few things you can still get that are American made, and one of them is a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Don't do it. There arew plenty of states that would love to have Harley move in and set up shop. Arizona for one..

When Harley-Davidson used to claim to be the largest motorcycle maker in the world (they weren't of course) it was based on the idea that they had "manufacturing" plants in 67 nations. The world's largest maker of motorcycles at the time (by sales, not by the number of plants) was BSA. BSA had 66 plants (in Coventry alone). This is the type of numbers game HD has always played.

There is VERY little of a HD motorcycle that is made in the USA. Look up Mikuni, for example and you'll see one source of their parts. Showa is another. Italy is a big source, which explains whey they had purchased VM and then paid the original owner $90 Million to take it back. About the only USA made parts on a HD are fenders, frame, and engine. The VROD of course being a Porsche (German) design.

So.. HD has ALWAYS tried to sell outside the USA. They are a one product company, where their vastly larger competitors don't even take the USA market all that seriously.

HD used to have 4400 Union employees at York. Now there are about 800. HD also used a slick method of claiming sales, and was sued by their stock holders for stock manipulation. They used to count shipped motorcycles as if they were sold. So when they were adding a half million machines to dealer inventories that were not sold to customers, HD claimed they had been sold.

This is a part of the reason so many dealers are failing. And now the dealers have no cash to buy new inventory.

No2Reichwing wrote:

So they are doing the reverse of most "outsourcing" aka selling out jobs. They building PARTS in the USA, shipping them to India to be assembled for the INDIAN market.

Outsource is not new to HD. They build very little of their motorcycles. The main assembly plant in York, assembles parts sub assemblies that arrive from various foreign nations. They buy large number of parts from Japan, and Italy. Shocks, Electrics, Carburetors, controls etc. are all outsourced.

At one time HD had assembly shops in about 65 nations. These were small shops, not true manufacturing plants. This will be the same in India where all they will do is assemble the parts arriving from Italy, Europe, USA, and Japan into motorcycles just as they do here in the USA.