Harley-Davidson underperforms in Europe. Among the EU’s best-selling bikes are big tourers, like BMW’s boxer twins, but Harley’s models aren’t found amongst them. In truth, despite bikes usually selling higher in Europe than the U.S., Harley sells lower than a 3rd as many bikes across the pond because it does right here. Harley now has a plan to deal with that, to get its brand in front of more European eyes with the assistance of MotoGP, however it’s not going to be the silver bullet for what ails the bar and shield within the EU.
Harley-Davidson and MotoGP announced a race series this past weekend, where six to eight Harley-supported teams will race in their very own series at six MotoGP weekends across next yr’s calendar. The brands see it as a win-win, with Harley getting more eyes on GP racing in America while MotoGP gets the Harley name out in Europe. There’s only one issue with Harley’s side of the cut price: Name recognition is not the corporate’s European problem.
Harley is a known quantity
Even in Europe, Harley-Davidson is an incredibly well-known brand. You simply must return to 2016, two presidential administrations ago, to see Harley beat out Kawasaki for German market share — big American V-Twins outselling Ninjas within the land of the Autobahn. But that was nine years and two trade wars ago, and in 2024 Milwaukee captured just 3.5% of German two-wheel buyers.
European buyers didn’t forget Harley-Davidson in those intervening years, the brand still existed in the general public consciousness of the continent. In truth, Harley is incredible at what marketers call brand awareness — to many, the corporate is synonymous with motorcycling. There’s something indescribable, insurmountable, ineffable in regards to the Harley appeal, and that is the type of brand awareness that almost all marketers would kill for.
No, Harley’s problems within the EU lie further down the client funnel. Do not forget that, from “Glengarry Glen Ross?” It’s an actual thing, an actual rubric that real marketers use for real firms, and it just so happened to be the topic of many a category towards that marketing degree I got back in college. Let me share a few of those learnings with you, prevent the schooling.
AIDA
I regret to tell you that Alec Baldwin didn’t get the rubric perfect in “Glengarry Glen Ross.” It isn’t attention-interest-decision-action, it’s awareness-interest-desire-action. Many takes on the funnel add further steps, but this basic version works for our little demonstration here. Customers are made aware of a product, some variety of those customers turn out to be interested enough within the product to look into it further, a few of those prospects find yourself wanting the thing and an excellent smaller group actually buy it.
Harley-Davidson’s issue is not awareness. Within the European market, the corporate’s sales problem is somewhere further down the road — there is a disconnect between all those motorcyclists who’re aware of Harley, and the three.5% that take motion and buy a motorbike. No company goes to have an ideal track record, nobody will make a buyer out of each one who knows their brand name, however it’s clear Harley desires to pump its numbers up.
But what about racing?
Racing is usually a really top-of-funnel exercise, a way to get a brand out in front of consumers who won’t otherwise remember it. This is probably going why, despite all of the rumor milling, BMW has yet to field a team in MotoGP — the corporate gets its brand on the market every race with its safety cars, and never has to shell out for bike development. If Harley is using MotoGP as a brand awareness effort, the corporate is vastly underestimating its own cachet within the EU. Awareness is not the issue.
Taking Harley’s baggers racing in Europe could, in theory, hit the will a part of that funnel. Harley-Davidson marketers can have specific customer sentiment evaluation that shows Europeans consider American cruisers as slow or unwieldy, and the bar-and-shield could also be using this series as an try to beat back on that specific consumer thought. But a one-make race generally is a tough proposition on that front, since Harley is not actually showing off performance prowess relative to any competitors — except, in fact, the GP bikes which can be sure to show faster laps on the identical tracks under equivalent conditions, ready for side-by-side comparison. It’s possible Harley-Davidson is banking on a broad Harley-racing-performance link in buyers’ minds, but fielding eight race teams with factory support is a really expensive method to construct broad-stroke associations.
What seems more prone to be Harley-Davidson’s problem in Europe is its actual product lineup. Milwaukee makes tourers, however it doesn’t make the form of upright, fully faired bikes that Europeans buy in droves — a Road Glide could also be a wonderfully comfortable long-distance cruiser, but no buyer would confuse it with a BMW R1300 RT. If that is the market Harley wants, racing likely is not essentially the most effective method to go about getting it. It’s so much cheaper to slap some road-going fairings and lowered street suspension on a Pan America than it’s to field a full race series. Give Europeans that bike, Harley, and you will probably see higher returns.
This Article First Appeared At www.jalopnik.com
