MC Manufacturing

SteveST1300

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I just heard on the news Harley Davidson is going to shift their manufacturing overseas. I can't imagine how that will go over well.
 
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They already have overseas plants: India and Brazil, I believe, for assembling motorcycles for those markets. I've been told that the Street 500 and Street 750 models sold in the US are built here, and those for other markets are built elsewhere. The production that is being done in Kansas City is supposed to move to York, PA, next year with a net loss of about 350 jobs.
 
Not sure if its what you're referring to, but they are setting up operations in Thailand because there's currently a 60% tariff on Harleys there, so building them in Thailand avoids that tariff and its an expanding market. They're also closing a US plant because of lagging sales here.

edit: apparently this is not what the OP was referencing, today Harley announced new plans to move some production to avoid newly imposed EU tariffs in response to the Trump tariffs on steel/aluminum. MAGA
 
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Interesting they gave no details just that they were moving manufacturing overseas.




theyre doing it to circumvent the tariffs the EU imposed to counter Trumps tariffs on their things sold in the US. Thus Americans will lose jobs and Euros or whoever, gain jobs. :mw1:
 
"Harley-Davidson, stung by new tariffs, said it will shift some motorcycle production to factories outside the U.S. The motorcycle manufacturer said in a regulatory filing that it's shifting production of motorcycles heading to Europe from the U.S. to overseas factories. EU tariffs on its motorcycles exported from the U.S. have surged from 6 percent to 31 percent.

Harley-Davidson said that it will not raise its prices due to "an immediate and lasting detrimental impact to its business in the region," although the tariffs are adding about $2,200 in costs per motorcycle exported from the U.S. to the EU.

The EU has boosted tariffs on American-made products including Harley-Davidson motorcycles, peanut butter and orange juice in response to President Donald Trump's decision to slap tariffs on European steel and aluminum. The EU's trade chief said last week that it was "left with no other choice" after Mr. Trump imposed tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on imported aluminum from the EU on June 1.

"In the near-term, the company will bear the significant impact resulting from these tariffs, and the company estimates the incremental cost for the remainder of 2018 to be approximately $30 to $45 million," Harley said in the filing.
Timeline: over the next 18 months

Harley-Davidson said that shifting targeted production from the U.S. to international facilities could take at least nine to 18 months to be completed.

The company is already struggling with falling sales. In January, it said it would consolidate its Kansas City, Missouri, plant into its York, Pennsylvania, facility. U.S. motorcycle sales peaked at more than 1.1 million in 2005 but then plummeted during the recession."
 
Many of Harley parts are already produced elsewhere. The 500 and 750 Models are already produced in India for the Indian and Ero markets. The USA 500 and 750 are built in the US but most of the parts are made in India and shipped here for assembly. Many of the Harley parts for the other US bikes are made in India as well such as cylinders, cases etc. Much of the "Made in the USA" jargon should read "Assembled in the USA with foreign made components". Honda often has touted that some of their bikes and ATV's are made in the US but, basically large containers of parts that are made in Thailand or Japan are sent here to be assembled for the US market.

Hardly anything is truly completely here in the USA anymore - good or bad, I don't know.

Dan
 
My Harley has:
Showa suspension - Japan; about to be Ohlins, Sweden
Brembo Brakes - Italy
Shinko tires - Korea
HD seat - Taiwan
Harmon Kardon Infotainment, China, I bet.
Wheels, who knows?
About the only things made in the USA are the frame, drivetrain and engine, and some of those components are imported.
The battery is a Deka, proudly made in the USA, with 10mm bolts for the cables.
 
Interesting, back in 1984, Harley was saved by Reagan through a tariff, and now they face getting closed down by Trump, because of tariffs.

Funny how the world works! :eek:4:
 
Interesting, back in 1984, Harley was saved by Reagan through a tariff, and now they face getting closed down by Trump, because of tariffs.

Funny how the world works! :eek:4:

yeah, I was thinking the same thing yesterday. But, I remember one result of the tariff was the 750s became 700s for a few years because the tariff only applied to 700cc and larger (the actual displacement was in the 690s usually). I was never convinced the Reagan tariff amounted to anything anyway, since the mantra back then was "I'd rather eat worms than ride a rice burner" so it wasn't like there was any significant competition between the brands in the first place. And that tariff only lasted a few years. I had a 1986 FZ750 that I thought was pre-tariff because they went to FZ700 a little later, but maybe it just took a couple years to change the displacement after the tariff was enacted.
 
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theyre doing it to circumvent the tariffs the EU imposed to counter Trumps tariffs on their things sold in the US. Thus Americans will lose jobs and Euros or whoever, gain jobs. :mw1:

Unless, of course, overseas companies move production here to avoid our import tariffs...

Fact remains our tariffs are among the lowest in the world, typically, and I think it high time we raise ours until/unless others lower theirs. I sell a lot into Europe and those poor buggers are often paying as much in import fees as I'm getting for it myself...
 
Trump might be right, trump might be wrong I really have no idea which it is! :confused:

I completely agree. I have no idea.

Only thing I'm reasonably sure of is that on the international front being 'kitty-cats' like we were from 2008-2016 is NOT the right way.
 
Joe should be along shortly to nip the politics in the bud, but my understanding is America has generally preferred open markets and for that reason avoided tariffs as much as possible. Economists claim they suppress trade, which seems to make sense to me, if everybody raises prices through tariffs, less goods are purchased.
 
Joe should be along shortly to nip the politics in the bud, but my understanding is America has generally preferred open markets and for that reason avoided tariffs as much as possible. Economists claim they suppress trade, which seems to make sense to me, if everybody raises prices through tariffs, less goods are purchased.

Joe doesn't need to in my case... I am eager for this to NOT be a political place. I'm not going to defend or justify or further discuss my views, nor want to.
 
I remember one result of the tariff was the 750s became 700s for a few years because the tariff only applied to 700cc and larger

I bought a 700 Sabre back then. What I found interesting was that Honda was able to turn a 750 into a 700 almost overnight and basically get the same performance as they had before. It was an impressive feat of Japanese engineering.
 
Probably just a different head.

I owned a couple of tariff-beating VFR700's back in the day. Identical to the 750 barring the crank (shorter throw) and rods (longer, to make up the difference), and probably the final gearing. Never felt short-changed by the missing 50cc that's for sure.
 
On the NightHawk, it was a smaller crank. The larger 750 crank could be had from Canada if you wanted, but the NightHawk S was a pretty fast bike even in the 700 size.
 
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