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Harley-Davidson announced its returning models for 2024 yesterday, with a promise that new models will be revealed in a film called "American Dreamin'" to be released on January 24. Naturally, that means the most interesting stuff is yet to come. But here are three quick takeaways I gleaned from yesterday's release.
A new Harley-Davidson is now (slightly) more affordable
We all know how the pandemic put motorcycle prices, both new and used, through the blender. Factories shut down, governments flooded the economy with cheap (or free) money, and inflation took off. After dropping to almost nothing, dealer inventories are now back to about where they were before the pandemic, however, and we're seeing the return of promotions and incentives, which disappeared in the last few years as dealers sold everything they had without trying very hard. Harley-Davidson CEO Jochen Zeitz is a man who reacts to the idea of discounts and incentives like you'd expect him to react to being served 10-day-old roadkill on a platter for lunch, but even Harley currently has financing promotions.
Zeitz reversed the company's course when he took over and focused on making Harley-Davidson "premium," not affordable or accessible to more customers. One result, after the elimination of the Evo Sportster line, was that the cheapest new Harley-Davidson you could buy in 2023 was a Nightster for $13,499. For 2024, Harley-Davidson has quietly lowered the price. The Nightster Special now has an MSRP of $13,499, but the base, single-seat Nightster's MSRP is $11,999. That's not all that much more than Harley-Davidson was asking for the last Iron 883 that rolled off the assembly line with a price of $11,249.
It's not like Harleys suddenly got cheap, but I do think it's a sign of the times.
The new fairings are here to stay
When our correspondent went to ride the limited-edition Harley-Davidson Street Glide CVO model for 2023, Harley-Davidson executives and designers were not shy to tell him they spent many hours trying "hundreds of variations" as they redesigned the traditional batwing fairing, which had been around with few changes for 35 years. The company is not one to mess with tradition lightly, especially such a visible piece of styling. Now, it appears that redesigned batwing fairing, as well as the fixed fairing on the CVO Road Glide, are coming to Harley's new-for-2024 models.
The teaser image for the film to be released on January 24 shows three motorcycles. The two in front are wearing the redesigned fairings we saw on the 2023 CVO models. And since the returning models currently being shown on Harley-Davidson's website include just three Touring models — The Road King Special, Road Glide Limited, and Ultra Limited — I certainly expect more news in the form of touring bikes later this month, since that's the meat in the company's profit sandwich.
And what about the third model in that teaser photo? It's way in the back and hard to make out, but it looks to me like it has a windshield. I fondly remember laying down thousands of miles nearly 20 years ago on a Road King equipped with a traditional windshield as I traveled all the way from Los Angeles to Big Bend National Park in Texas, hitting a few other stops along my meandering route. Maybe I'm biased by that experience, but I half expect a Road King model with a windshield to round out the Touring options. We'll see.
Is a smaller Pan America coming?
Currently, the Adventure-Touring category on Harley-Davidson's website shows only the Pan America 1250 Special, instead of the two Pan America 1250 models available for 2023. Absent is the base model, while the Special, which has the semi-active suspension and additional electronic ride modes, is back at the same price of $19,999.
In our annual predictions story, CT writer Dustin Wheelen predicted Harley-Davidson would enter a new product category this year, and one possible example he gave was a Pan America 975, using the smaller version of the Revolution Max engine in the Nightster. I'm beginning to think the kid may have a point.
We've seen how popular the middleweight adventure-touring options from other manufacturers have become. It makes a lot of sense that H-D would build the 1250 Special, with all the bells and whistles, and a more elemental and perhaps lighter Pan America 975 instead of the regular Pan America 1250. The 975 would be more differentiated from the flagship and would likely broaden the appeal to more customers. It's an approach we've seen other manufacturers take with their adventure-touring lineups.
Sounds reasonable. Now we just have to wait a few weeks to see if it actually happens.
Meanwhile, you can check out all the returning models at Harley-Davidson's website.
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