Harley's biggest demographic is aging out of relevance. They desperately need someone to step in to fill that gap or they're doomed. Bad-ass biker dudes are *so* last century. But you know what? Hipster chic has just as big or bigger a following, and it's not really so alien to what the biker lifestyle has evolved into.
Harley has introduced modern versions of the old-school Sportster while keeping the look that both the bikers and hipsters like. The LiveWire is just a deeper reach into millennial-land. I'm guessing the response on the LiveWire tour has varied from suspicion to hatred from the bikers, and confusion to really getting it from the millennials. The mainstream motorcycle press has been slowly but steadily warming to the idea of e-motorcycles, faster than many of their readers. Harley entering this market is a big step in the right direction. The whole biker thing has been a sad joke for years. At some point even Harley has to move on or die. I applaud their initiative, but it remains to be seen whether they'll follow through. Chris On Sat, Nov 15, 2014 at 1:46 PM, EVDL Administrator via EV < [email protected]> wrote: > On 15 Nov 2014 at 11:02, Ben Goren via EV wrote: > > > But if Ford made an electric Mustang with best-in-class 0-60 times or > > an F-150 with even more torque than a competitor's diesel hemi, people > > aren't going to care so much about either it only having an hundred > > miles of range or costing a modest premium. > > I think such an EV would appeal to a very small segment of people who buy > muscle cars and trucks. But EVs are even farther from the mainstream here > than they are for small-sedan buyers. > > I realize (and am glad) that we have enlightened muscle car and truck fans > on this very list. Their numbers have undoubtedly grown over the last > decade, but they remain a tiny minority. I'm skeptical that they'll ever > be > sufficiently numerous to make economic sense for a mainstream automaker to > target. > > It may be different out in CA, but here in the midwest, big trucks are kind > of a religion, and EVs are for nonbelievers. Sure, they can deliver more > torque, but so can a "chipped" diesel. That may increase emissions, but so > what? They either don't care or actively LIKE making emissions, kind of > like dogs marking territory. Some like the noise, too. > > As for muscle cars, they appeal to a totally different kind of buyer from > those who buy high-end European performance cars. The latter may indeed be > swayed to EVs by rational performance arguments. The former buy more with > their guts than their heads, and are going to be harder to sell on EVs, > IMO. > > My hat's off to Harley for trying. I hope they sell a million. But I'm > not > holding my breath. > > Glass-half-empty-ishly yours, > > David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA > EVDL Administrator > > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > EVDL Information: http://www.evdl.org/help/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > Note: mail sent to "evpost" and "etpost" addresses will not > reach me. To send a private message, please obtain my > email address from the webpage http://www.evdl.org/help/ . > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > > > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA ( > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20141115/754e7da0/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
