Harley-Davidson Isn't Going To Save LiveWire, Says CEO

LiveWire, you're on your own.

By: Jonathon Klein

Oct 30, at 1:33pm ET

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Harley-Davidson's new CEO, Artie Starrs, recently spoke about the future of the brand's all-electric offshoot, LiveWire, during the brand's Q3 investor call, and it was one that was straight to the point: Harley will not save LiveWire from bankruptcy, a rumored outcome of its internal restructuring plan.

A rare moment of straightforward, non-executive wishy-washy speak, as RideApart's managing editor Janaki Jitchotvisut put it.

In recent days, LiveWire has lost its longtime CEO and appointed a new restructuring executive to lead the charge and figure out how to survive after countless years of endless debt accumulation. While the original promise of LiveWire was 100,000 motorcycles a year, the reality was that LiveWire's sales never amounted to anything more than 1,200 a year, with recent years seeing even fewer than 1,000. And that's echoed much of the rest of the EV motorcycle industry in terms of its on-road offerings, i.e., no one wants them.

Yet, recent moves made us hopeful that it could finally right the ship with the introduction of the Honcho scooter and Hightail dirt bike. That's looking extremely less likely given Starrs' comments, however.

Starrs commented on LiveWire's future during Harley-Davidson's Q3 results call to investors, stating, "We don't intend to fund the operating losses of the team going forward. The team there has been working on other forms of capital. What's been announced has been announced. "

This comes on the heels of Starrs himself being the man that apparently Harley-Davidson absolutely needed to right the iconic brand's path forward, as he's very quickly made headway into ensuring it's around for another 100-plus years. Starrs repaired the strained relationship with Harley's dealerships; he's bringing the Sprint 440 to the States to finally give folks a proper entry-level Hog; he released a sport cafe racer concept that's likely to make production; he's brought more customization to the brand's lineup; reduced overhead; brought manufacturing back to the United States, and even managed to keep an even keel during the stupid dust-up between Harley and Indian which the latter started for no apparent reason other than it had new owners that were wannabe edgelords.

I will say this, however. If there ever was a time to save LiveWire, it's now with the two products I mentioned above. Of all the models LiveWire has ever introduced, these are finally the two that actually make sense. The Honcho is the perfect pit-bike/scooter for cities around the world, as well as track days, and more. And the Hightail, which would be the first model from the newly acquired Dust Moto folks, represents the hottest motorcycling market right now in that it's an EV dirt bike. And that alone represents getting more and more youths involved in motorcycles in general, as they're the prime customers.

What do you think?

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Comments

If I were Starrs or one of his advisers, I'd say let LiveWire fail. But keep those two and bring them into the Harley-Davidson family. Just those two, though. Kill everything else, as not a single on-road LiveWire makes sense at present. The tech isn't there. The infrastructure isn't there. The want isn't there. Those other two, however, keep them around. Sell them next to Roadglides or the reinvented Sportster that's coming back. Sell them as a package to a parent and their kid. Get them hooked. Get them into the ecosystem. Make them customers.

Also, you don't want another backlash like Atla.