[Jeff Higgins]

The entire motorcycle industry is circling the drain, not just HD. They continue to dominate the market for "heavyweight" (over 700cc, an arbitrary line, granted) motorcycles with just about half of the market share, leaving the other dozen or so manufacturers fighting over the other half. Yes, it is a drastically shrinking market across the board, but HD still owns half of it. This dominance of their market segment would be akin to, say, Ford manufacturing half of the pickup trucks sold in the world every year. It's a market share others can only dream of.

The Livewire has been around for a couple of years now. Yes, Harley did indeed use its customers for R&D but, unlike so many other companies, did so before they put the product on the market, not after. They hauled a fleet of these things around the country to every bigger motorcycle gathering there is, from Daytona to Laconia to Sturgis, letting thousands of people ride them and soliciting their feedback. They brought them to dealerships so customers could ride them, and all in all, put a good deal of effort into getting the riding public onto one of them before they finalized the design.

They are not shooting for the pimply faced millennial buyer looking for cheap transportation. They are not looking to compete with Kymco scooters as some cheap ass urban commuter / bike messenger disposable plastic transportation. They are looking at making a technological splash, on the level of Tesla, to draw attention to the viability of an all electric motorcycle. They are looking to supply affluent people with a frivolous, but interesting toy with which to garner attention and get the conversation started.

The cheaper "transportation" bikes will follow, from other manufacturers, the ones that will fill the Nissan Leaf's niche, only in the motorcycle world. In the meantime, however, their next introduction will be their "modular" bike concept, with a sport bike and adventure touring bike. These won't be cheap either - think Ducati money for the former, BMW money for the latter. Harley will continue to aim for the higher end of the market where they have built their niche. Much like Porsche, they want to remain something to attain to, something to strive for "someday". That's their place in the market, just as Porsche has no interest in competing with Hyundai, Toyota, et al.