Old Harley davidson - history begins part 4

Next, in 1963, old Harley Davidson adopted the use of fiberglass in the motor-bike. For this purpose, they buy 60% stake in Tomahawk Boat Manufacturing Co., manufacturers of fiberglass in Wisconsin. 1950-1960 year was also marked by the presence of bikers’ community, who introduced the biker culture. They are easily recognizable because it uses a leather jacket, covered in tattoos, and long hair. Wild Ones image of Marlon Brando was introduced through the film of the same appearances.


Harley-Davidson's official community itself was only established in 1983, with the name Harley Owner Group (HOG). It became the community's largest Harley-Davidson owners are supported directly by the manufacturer. Currently, the numbers of members of HOG close to one million people around the world. In 1965, Harley-Davidson went public. Four years later, American Machine and Foundry (AMF) a merger with Harley-Davidson. However, the merger is considered as the darkest period in the history of Harley-Davidson. The reason, in 1970 and 1980, motorcycles made in Japan that the price is very cheap to enter the market. When Honda, Kawasaki, and Suzuki entered the U.S. market, Harley-Davidson's market share has fallen dramatically, off the original 80% in 1969, to 20% ten years later.



Harley-Davidson executives react to the decline in market share. They are also looking for ways to save the company. To return Harley-Davidson to its originality, they submitted a proposal to Citicorp. With the funding support of U.S. $ 80 million from Citicorp, they buy back shares held by AMF (Citicorp stock was sold to Heller Financial Corporation, in 1986). The concept and philosophy of production and sales of Harley-Davidson was repaired. Initially, Harley-Davidson is a product that is affordable and easy to use and modify. That changed with the Harley-Davidson products are expensive and hard to find spare parts. To replace the rear lights, for example, Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners cannot just buy the shell, but having to buy whole parts.