ROAD NEWS
NEW H-D MODELS DELAYED
H
arley-Davidson’s move into the popular
adventure and street fighter categories
has been delayed according to UK based
outlet Motorcycle News.
The report comes off the back of the official
H-D website – harley-davidson.com – altering the
expected release date on both the Pan America
and Bronx models which were previously slated
for a late-2020 release.
Both the Pan America and the Bronx are
based around Harley-Davidson’s upcoming
60-degree water-cooled engine platform,
dubbed the Revolution Max and 1250cc and
975cc sizes respectively.
While Harley-Davidson has dabbled in the
sportier segments of the motorcycle market
previously, most notably through axed subsidiary
Buell, the company has never made moves into
the increasingly popular adventure touring
segment until now.
Part of the delay is likely due to Harley-
Davidson’s new President and CEO – Jochen
Zeitz – stamping his mark on the company as well
as the impacts of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
Zeitz recently dropped the ‘More Roads to
Harley-Davidson’ programme of his predecessor,
the very programme that spawned the new
models, in favour of the ‘Rewire’ plan which sets
to alleviate Harley’s financial woes by refocussing
the company.
While Harley-Davidson Australia has not
commented on the supposed delay in the new
models – our regional media access site still
retains the original 2020 expected launch – it
would make sense from a financial standpoint to
see the launch of the bikes moved to 2021 and
closer to the northern hemisphere summer to
maximise potential sales.
KIWI RIDER 87