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Harley looks beyond Baby Boomers
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Harley's $8,000 Sportster Iron 883
Harley Davidson has come to realize that if it lives solely by Baby Boomer motorcycle riders, it will surely die by them.
The company is looking beyond so-called "geezer bikes" to a new motorcycle designed to appeal to the younger audience it says it needs to survive.
Harley's profits dropped 30 percent last year with sales falling 13.1 percent in the fourth quarter, Meanwhile, its stock price has gone from $37.34 a share about a year ago to $11.96 in mid-February, about a 70 percent drop.
Industry analyst Tony Gikas, of Piper Jaffray of Minneapolis, told Time.com in a recent story that Harley-Davidson cannot depend solely on the touring bikes popular with Baby Boomers, which he says "look like geezer bikes."
Gikas told Time: "You don't find too many 21- and 22-year-old guys with their girlfriends riding around on Harleys. Or wanting to."
According to Time, Harley has a marketing campaign and a new motorcycle -- the $8,000 Sportster Iron 883 -- aimed at 20-somethings.
For some Harley dealers, the push toward a younger market is long overdue. Said one dealer to Time: "They've been saying for a long time that it's important to capture the younger generation, but it never seemed to happen. Even young people dream of owning a Harley."
Baby Boomers over the last 10 years helped the sale of motorcycles, but at a price.
Deaths from motorcycle crashes are increasing, while the number of motor vehicle fatalities is decreasing.
Harley-Davidson
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