Indeed! There is some complete and utter crap being posted on this subject in here.

Quoting from an Indian source, Business Line:

"Shipment from India

These bikes will form the entry level line-up for HD, in India and elsewhere, sitting below the Superlow line-up. The company will ship 7,000-10,000 Street 750 motorcycles from its Bawal facility, in Haryana, to Indian and European markets during the first year."

No mention of North America. From another Indian source, AEG India:

"Other place from where the bikes are manufactured is Kansas City that cater to the needs of North American market."

So that's clear then - FLTR08 is right!

 

Because I like older models doesn't mean the head's in the sand buddy . I've watched up close the transformation of the Moco from the struggling mom & pop shops to the multinational conglomerate it's turning into I am not a recent jap bike convert like so many in here beating their lips .

Seems you boys have issue with someone peeling the cheap veneer off the bullshit and calling things like they are and that's what the MoCo is selling now , the bikes are an ever increasing major portion ever cheaper imported parts & components and like it or not the whole India thing is a running experiment to see if out of country cheaper major component manufacturing can be slipped into the mainstream and how the buying demographic will react to it . I have no real issue with the bike itself there's definitely a market for it world wide . My issue is the whole " American Steel " illusion Harley is selling and the gullible buying as as fast they can get the credit approved , that's a lie period .

 

Harley is known for its great resale value. My son will be able to ride in a few years, so I would much prefer buying a bike like this for him to learn, and when he is ready to step up to a big boy bike to trade it in, by this time I would take the advantage of the resale value, also he would be comfortable to the nomenclature of a Harley Davidson.

 

That's your own narrow uninformed view of "bottom line" not the Motor Company. The entire marketing strategy of HD is to develop lifelong customers. Manufactured in the US is important to the Harley brand in America. Their bottom line is based completely on their image, without it they can't compete with the quality and technology of other brands for market share

Wether you choose to believe it or not the production facility exists now in Kansas City, Missouri. The dealers were there on Tuseday. The motorcycles are being manufactured there now. The reason they won't be out for sale sooner is because the first production runs will go to Rider's Edge Dealers to replace their fleets before it is in the showroom.

I don't understand what it is so complicated for some people to understand that Harley can actually have a factory in the US and another somewhere else? It isn't rocket science, thousands of companies do it.

 

I would also look for deals like HD did a few years ago with the Sportster. Buy a Street 500 keep it stock and trade it on a bigger model within a year for a guaranteed high trade value.

 

These new bikes will be manufactured in KC MO, but they will likely be "manufactured" with many parts that have been imported from other countries. I hope the engine/transmission along with other major components are made here, not just the frame and various brackets etc.

 

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If you hate them now, why do you still live and promote the Harley Davidson lifestyle? You are the best sales pitch for the so called lie. Your contribution is that you will never ride anything but HD motorcycles, that loyalty example is great for new prospective buyers.

Sell your Harley and build up a custom all american parts bike and severe your link to the HD corporation. Delcare your freedom!

Who cares if people are Japanese convert as you call it? These buyers actually are more important to Moco than grumpy old men who will never purchase new again.

I do think you want any new Harley Davidson to fail or have foreign made parts so your older motorcycle is somehow better than the new ones and you can maintain your superiority. Certainly you don't expect for Moco to start building motorcycles for people who wouldn't buy them anyway?

 

For some of us every iddy-biddy-diddy bit of a Harley is an import. Jus' sayin'

 

I think part of what Twisted is getting at is that Harley laid off 25% of its American workforce in the last couple of years, but now it is building new plants in India and announcing new models to be built there. Now you can play up the "built in KC" angle as much as you want, but the fact of the matter is Harley is quickly morphing into just another global corporation, something very different than the iconic made-in-America brand that made it famous.

Presumably it is desirable to still have a few jobs left in this country so that people can actually afford to have a motorcycle. Or are we all to just work for Google and Facebook now and hope it all works out?

Harley-Davidson has spent the better part of 100 years hammering home the concept that it is a special, unique, American-made brand that is quite different than anything else out there. So of course people are going to have something to say about it when the company lays off a quarter of its workforce and starts building factories in India to produce bikes entirely dissimilar to anything it has done in the past. People commenting on that does not make them trolls or xenophobes.

Must we sacrifice every single shred of American culture on the alter of shareholder profits? And I say that as a committed capitalist.

 

Apparently we do!