Interview: Bill Davidson, Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson is celebrating its 100th year of operations in Australia in 2017, and recently marked the milestone with its 100 Years anniversary ride. Bill Davidson, great grandson of co-founder William Davidson and curator of Milwaukee's Harley-Davidson Museum, was along for the ride. Bikesales caught up with the man at the ride's end in Melbourne, to delve a little deeper into the soul at the heart of the Harley-Davidson legend…

Bikesales: How does Harley-Davidson view its relationship with Australia, and how is it unique compared to the many other markets in which Harley-Davidson has a presence?
Bill Davidson: The Australian market is extremely important to Harley-Davidson. I think our testimonial to that is the fact we've been here for 100 years. Our first dealership was Morgan & Wacker in Brisbane in 1917 and it's still in business, which is pretty phenomenal. We're doing quite well in Australia; we've become the number one heavyweight motorcycle brand – we've had that position for the last two years.

A lot of our international market has opportunity to for growth, so that is our focus right now. When you look at the US, where we own roughly 52 per cent of the market, and then you look at our international market, there is more opportunity for growth internationally. So there's a lot of effort going into our international markets, which includes Australia obviously, and we'll add more dealers to grow it.

Bikesales: Do you think Australian Harley riders are perhaps the most similar to American Harley riders than riders from elsewhere?
BD: You know, what's pretty amazing about our brand is that no matter where you're from and what your background is, Harley is like an equaliser. It's very interesting to me. I've been to many events where there are different languages being spoken and there's different cultural backgrounds, and none of that matters – everybody is the same.

So we really don't see a significant amount of difference between Australia, Canada, Europe, New Zealand or anywhere else – if Harley is a centrepiece it's an equaliser, it's a unifying force. We just did an ad campaign in the US centred on the tag 'United we Roll', meaning we're all united and we ride together.

Bikesales: How do you market to different demographics, namely your traditional market and younger generations, without compromising Harley's core message?
BD: I think it's really important that we absolutely follow our philosophy around the soul and essence of our brand, and that we continue to follow our philosophy around the look and feel of everything we do, whether it's clothing, parts and accessories, the motorcycles themselves.

Each one of these things has emotion around it, and it's very important that we continue to direct that emotion and continue to make sure that the essence of our brand is alive and growing.

Now, what's a little bit different obviously is young adults versus our core riders – because of the age differences there may be different desires. We have to take that into consideration and play on their terms. So when we look at young adults and we play on their terms, we create things and do things that create smiles for them.

It's like some of the newer Sportsters we've done. Take the Forty-Eight and the Iron: they're very unique bikes but they very much have that Harley essence and soul about them.

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And it's the same with our core. Our core have been riding with us for a long time; they're very loyal, they support our company in a big way, and we've got to continue to make sure that we keep them riding for as long as they possibly can. So in every sector of the market that we play in, we really try and play on those buyers' terms while following the philosophies of the company.

We're going to grow the US market by hopefully gaining two million more riders by 2027, so there's a ton of work behind the strategies, a lot of research, a lot of data analysis, and a lot of that has been done already to guide our strategic plans.

The electric stuff will be involved, absolutely. The Livewire, pardon the pun, is alive and well. We haven't set a launch timing but when we're ready we'll launch it and the bike is phenomenal – it really is a fun thing.

Bikesales: You've seen some great old Harleys here in Australia on this ride. If you could take one back with you to the Harley-Davidson Museum, what would it be?
BD: Well, this one right behind me – it's extremely rare and it's an eight-valve [a 1927 FHA]. We didn't make very many of these and this one happens to be married to a sidecar. It's came over to Australia in the very early years, it left Milwaukee soon after being built and landed here in Melbourne.

It's really neat that Dave Reidie [owner of the museum at Northside Harley-Davidson] was able to purchase it and keep it here in Australia. But believe me, we in Milwaukee were aware of this and watching every move that was happening, but I'm really happy that Dave has that motorcycle as part of his collection. I think it's really fitting and deserving that the motorcycle stays here in Australia where it's had most of its life.

Bikesales: What era of Harley-Davidson motorcycles personally has the most pull for you?
BD: That's a tough question, because we're continuing our storied history. Every day we're writing another day of history, and these bikes in their time [motions to classics on show] – these Panheads and Shovels – no-one really looked at them as collectable.

Some were transportation, but in the mid-'30s and into the '40s we became more of a leisure product, and over time these beautiful bikes, they never die, and that's something beautiful about a Harley-Davidson. People are so passionate about them, so emotionally connected, that whatever the bikes need they get, and so they keep 'em running.

And now, as time has passed, some of these older vintage bikes have become extremely collectable around the world, and when you have a commodity that's desirable the price keeps going up.

So I'm not biased to any one era of Harley-Davidson; I think there's a 'uniqueness' to a Flathead, a Panhead, a Knucklehead, a Shovelhead, an Evo, a Twin-Cam and so on. It's exciting.

Being in the museum world and being surrounded by vintage bikes, I've learned an absolute ton about our history, and to meet collectors like Dave – you can't contain their passion, it's so powerful. And that's really pretty special.

I know there are car collectors and other motorcycle collectors out there but there's something pretty powerful about a vintage Harley-Davidson that everyone enjoys, whether you're a rider or not.

It was neat coming into Melbourne today with those two Knuckles ahead of me. I was watching some people on the street just walking on the sidewalk when we stopped and this old guy, he was just grinning from ear to ear, he was reminiscing. And that's what is so neat about them, for all of our models.

Bikesales: The Davidsons still have a massive presence within Harley-Davidson, but what happened to the Harleys?
BD: They are still around, but not necessarily with the company. The last direct descendent from the Harley side was John Harley. He left the company around 1978 and he was in our service department. They've pursued different interests and their family members, the younger generations, I guess don't have an interest or a passion in coming on.

I certainly did, my sister [Karen, Director of Harley-Davidson Motor Clothes] certainly did, and I have a daughter. She's just turned 18 but like my parents told me, 'pursue your dreams' – we weren't forced into joining the company and that's wonderful.

I've pursued my dreams and I hope my daughter pursues her dreams. Obviously there's a little bias in my opinion, though – I would love to have her join the company someday. It's hard to say right now, she's so focused on starting the next chapter of her life at the University of Kentucky, but let's see.

She's interested in design, which is a good sign – I mean dad's [Willie G. Davidson] an artist, Karen's a fashion designer, so I'm hopeful it might lead to something at the Motor Company. That would be terrific.