Is The Average Age of Harley-Davidson Owners Lower Than Most Think?

Youth Movement?

For quite a long time, we've been told - time and time again - that Harley-Davidson has an age problem. Critics say that H-D's motorcycles only appeal to older folks, and warn that when they're gone, the iconic company will basically cease to exist as younger folks gravitate toward other two-wheeled brands. However, when we look at some recent data, that doesn't appear to be the case at all. 

Photos: Harley-Davidson

Talking Financials

During the company's recent earnings call with investors, Harley-Davidson CEO Jochen Zeitz touched on the subject of the average age of its customers, which is something that has been constantly batted around over the years. While discussing the company's financials, Zeitz provided us with some data derived from Harley-Davidson Financial Services (HDFS) pertaining to the ages of those who are financing or leasing new motorcycles. 

Photos: Harley-Davidson

Average Age

"Thanks to growing penetration today, roughly 70% of new and used Harley-Davidson motorcycles are being financed through HDFS in North America," Zeitz said. "But crucially, HDFS allows us to understand our customers better through the unique insights and customer dynamics that we’ve access to. One of those insights that I’d like to call out today is our average age customer profile."

Photos: Harley-Davidson

Younger than Expected

"As we look back through our HDFS data over the past, we are able to see that the average age of our customers purchasing a motorcycle, used and new, is about 45," the CEO added. "This is a fact-based metric that stands in contrast to the narrative that has been perpetuated by some commentators. As you can see in the slide that we provided as part of this presentation, the average age has not moved significantly in the last 10 years and even much beyond. In addition, nearly 30% of HDFS loan originations in the past five years were made to customers 35 and younger, with 75% 54 or under.”

Photos: Harley-Davidson

Ongoing Trend

While this is only based on HDFS data from the past decade, these are revealing statistics regardless, and seemingly fly in the face of everything we've been told for years now. Harley has attracted riders who are just entering middle age and have enough cash and free time to ride, and Zeitz also believes that this trend isn't going to end anytime soon. "Given the average MSRP and the segments we compete in, we continue to expect our customer to age into our product while building brand awareness and desirability, starting at a much younger age, helped by all our efforts to build new and keep existing riders riding as part of our Hardwire strategy,” he stated.

Photos: Harley-Davidson

>>Join in on the conversation about the H-D customer age issue here in Harley-Davidson Forums.

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