American motorcycle company Harley-Davidson is transitioning to become an all-electric brand in a process that will take decades, explains its CEO Jochen Zeitz in this interview.
Harley-Davidson, which is known for its large-engine, heavyweight cruiser motorcycles, is currently undergoing a long-term transition with the aim of becoming an electric brand, said Zeitz.
“At some point in time, Harley Davidson will be all-electric,” he told Dezeen. “But that’s a long-term transition that needs to happen. It’s not something you do overnight.”
The company launched its first electric motorcycle in 2018, named LiveWire. According to Zeitz, electrificaction is the next logical step in the evolution of the brand that was established 120 years ago.
“If you look at the past 120 years, the company has always evolved, never stood still,” he said. “Now, like the founders did at the time by trying to reinvent or invent something unique, that’s obviously something that we as a company brand need to do as well.”
“What we’re doing is celebrating our past but also evolving the brand at the same time,” he continued. “It’s a natural evolution that needed to happen”.