Harley-Davidson has delivered a huge blow to electric motorcycle skeptics as it has announced it’s new updated five-year plan called The Hardwire.
Harley-Davidson has spent recent months implementing its Rewire plan in an attempt to cut internal cost. According to Harley-Davidson CEO Jochen Zeitz, The Rewire plan is expected to save the company upwards of $115 million annually. Upon completion of The Rewire plan, Harley-Davidson has unveiled it’s updated five-year strategic plan, known as The Hardwire.
The plan aims to boost revenue and will include investments ranging between $190 million to $250 million per year in gas-powered and electric motorcycles.
Harley-Davidson plans on creating a new division within the company solely for the development of electric motorcycles all while continuing to invest on its core heavyweight motorcycles.
Harley-Davidson previously unveiled plans for at least five types electric motorcycles including full-size electric road bikes, flat track electric motorcycles, e-mopeds, and e-trail bikes. The automaker was aiming to launch the five new EVs by 2022, however as we saw with several other projects in the past year, the hardships brought on by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic caused some pretty major speed bumps.
In addition to its updated five-year plan, more recently the automaker announced the new Harely-Davidson electric bicycle startup, Serial 1. Reservations for “Powered by Harley-Davidson” e-bikes opened November 2020.
According to Zeitz, “The creation of a separate division will allow full autonomy to EV development, freeing the business unit to behave with the same agility and speed as a tech startup while still leveraging the support, expertise and oversight of the broader organization, allowing for cross pollination with innovation in electric with combustion product development.”