To call Harley-Davidson's electric motorcycle LiveWire a flop would be harsh judgment.
It drives very good.
But it's not selling as well as planned.
33,000 euros for something that you don't hear and have never seen before - the Harley customers didn't run into the dealers' booths.
Soon after its launch about two years ago, the Milwaukee manufacturer made an amazing shift in strategy, spinning off the LiveWire brand from the company, turning it into a separate electric start-up, removing the precious Harley-Davidson name from the dummy tank, and lowering it to the home market of America drastically reduced the price to just under $22,000 plus tax.
Only the original version came to Europe, but not the cheaper, technically identical LiveWire One from the LiveWire brand.
It is unclear how sales will continue in this country.
According to reports, there were still 100 copies of the 2020 vintage in Harley's European central warehouse that had not been taken by any dealer. At least a solution has now been found for this.
The Factory Group, one of the largest Harley dealers with four bases in Germany, takes over all 100. The marketing concept: price reduction by 3000 to almost 30,000 euros, plus a discount of another 5000 euros called “environmental bonus” in the case of financing, optionally also accessories or conversions for beautification worth 5000 euros.
Yes, that's business life in the name of electromobility: It's not a sure-fire success, you have to come up with something when the state subsidizes electric cars, but not two-wheelers.