Has anyone on here hear anything about hd moving some operations
to China in 2009?

 

Well, nothing would really surprise me at this point....

Few years ago (2004 I believe) HD entered into a 'partnership' with Zongshen. Details of this partnership were never made public. HD said it was to open the door for sales in China, others said that Zongshen in return would be licensed to manufacture various components for HD.

Zongshen is the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in China, with over 1 million motorcycles and 2 million engines produced each year (under various names) and shipped to over 150 countries.

To this day no one seems willing to provide detail information of this partnership between HD and Zongshen, but 'word on the street' is that Zongshen will be producing frames and other components for HD, at the very least...

Who knows.....

Maybe within a few years the market will be flooded with low cost, V-Twin, "Zongshen-Davidson" models....

 

If the MoCo wants to sell any volume of bikes in China they will have to do a joint venture there or be denied. The Chinese government will require this (unlike our slobs in Washington).

 

That statement right there is probably not far from the truth. I'm almost willing to bet that they'll come out with a line of bikes that will be economically and realistically within the reach of a much younger generation. They may even say "Harley-Davidson" on them, just without sporting the "Made in USA" stamp (that would really cheapen the H-D name, though), but would more likely be under a different name: "XXXXXX" with "by Harley-Davidson" in a smaller subscript. Ya know, kinda like the "Epiphone by Gibson" thing. They'll look and sound just like a Harley, but cost $10,000 less.

 

Mixed feelings about this but rather see a joint venture with China and possibly start selling Harleys over there with this economy the way it is than see Harley shut production down with layoffs etc.. which could be coming before this is all over...

 

Hoggy; I think they're brazen enough to just put the name Harley-Davidson on the things and let it go at that. I don't remember that they put 'made by' or anything else except Harley-Davidson on that Aermacchi pos they sold back in the 60's/70's when they were linked up with AMF What a success story that was for Harley Let's just see what kind of customer loyalty (NONE) they maintain if they start producing these sleds in China

 

They already have 2 dealerships in China...

HD appointed a Managing Direct in China (David Foley) and opened their first dealership in Beijing back in 2006.

In late 2007 they opened a second dealership in Shanghai, and there are plans to open more....

Back in 2004 HD stated that they would like the opportunity to sell motorcycles in China without manufacturing them in China. Because of that China has put a lot of restrictions on the sales of Harleys, and very few bikes are sold in that country.

There has been a lot of pressure placed on HD to manufacture bikes in China, which would open up sales within the country, and with the current financial conditions in the United States this is a very real possibility.....

Here is part of an interesting WorldNetDaily Commentary from April, 2008;

"Harley-Davidson is hoping to sell motorcycles in China without building a factory there: In 2004, its CEO, Jeffrey Bleustein, told Motorcycle USA:

Harley-Davidson's primary objective is to export our American-made motorcycles to China and to develop political and motorcycle industry alliances in anticipation of the market becoming more accessible. We do not believe it will be necessary for Harley-Davidson to manufacture its motorcycles in China in order to be able to sell them there.
With all but one of its factories located in the USA, it is one of the few remaining American manufacturers that still produces almost all of its products here. But Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain are all ignoring the mercantilism being practiced by China and other Asian nations. In effect they are joining the Chinese government in telling Harley-Davidson to move its factories to China.

 

What do you mean? GM & Ford already make millions of vehicles in China, Mexico, Canada, & Europe....and the stupid UAW idiots are still chanting "buy American" FWIW, I bought a 2002 Suburban made in Mexico which was by and far the best GM vehicle I ever owned and I kick myself for trading it in.

Won't be long IMO....they want to sell bikes in China. China demands they be made there. Game over. BTW the Chinese are in love with Harley's...so the demand is there. It will start with a factory over there for production of bikes to be sold there. Then when they figure out how much profit can be made there they will focus factories by product line like they do here and part of the world production of a specific line will be made there. Then India and on and on....

Oh yeah, almost forgot...then there will be literally TONS of counterfeit aftermarket Chinese made Harley parts flooding the US market. Once the tooling is there they will lose control of it.

 

Yep, you hit the nail on the head.....

That's exactly what will be happening in the very near future....

 

I fear you're right and all us dudes, who over the years have been payin' moco through the nose for over-priced parts, will only be too happy to get a deal.
As long as the material used in makin' the scoots isn't some inferior crap, it just isn't that difficult is it to assemble a Harley - I mean like it doesn't take a rocket scientist - hell, if I can do it I figure a moderately trained chimpanzee can as well come to think of it, they got a bar somewhere in Tokyo where they've trained monkey's to serve the drinks won't be long before they teach em how to mix 'em too
Damned, even in York a good portion of the assembly is robotic and the machines makin' the machines are probably made in China Yep KB, won't be long 'til they're back to just makin apple butter and doin' battlefield tours in that neck of the woods.