Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Rebirth of HD Cycles


Four years ago (if I remember correctly), I got a chance to visit the Harley Davidson showroom located in Bangsar. They were having some sales and there were rumors that said HD Malaysia was going to close down. When the news spread, many bikers started talking and more so worrying about how they were going to obtain spare parts. Even their HQ at the IBEX building located along Jalan 222, closed down at the same time. After both showrooms permanently closed doors, most of the bikers started to search for other spare-part sources. Most of the proud owners of Harley Davidson had no choice but to ride down to HD Singapore either to obtain spare parts or fix their bikes.

Some also opted to send their ‘luxury machines’ to the local chop shops such as Lee Bikers or T&H Bikers where the price of parts are slightly different than offered by HD Showrooms! 2008, was the year that all HOG owners were waiting for. It was the year that Harley Davidson Malaysia was reborn! Now they are back, bigger than before, tougher than ever and re-styled as a one-stop shop! The best part is HD Malaysia is a subsidiary under Naza Groups, the company who brought Ferrari and Maserati to Malaysia. Not forgetting Ducati too! I hope the new Harley Davidson franchisor will sell more bikes to enable them selves to retain their franchising license from HD USA! As we know, the last franchisor saw poor sales and that caused them to be terminated! Or in more politically correct terms, their contract expired! The issue with poor sales stemmed from high import tax causing the prices of the bikes to skyrocket. With such high prices, how does one expect them to achieve good sales? I believe they must have a brilliant marketing plan in order to achieve good sales targets. Hey, if a new VRSCF V-Rod Muscle (2009) retails in America for around USD17k+, how much will it cost here? Take your calculator, calculate the exchange rate and add to that import tax and BOOM…. RM159k! At this SRP, the new owner better hope he stumbles upon a pot of gold or pray he doesn’t end up black listed by the bank while shouldering such a hefty loan!



Now you know what I mean, they re-styled as a one-stop shop! These is fantastic! As one stop-shop, you definitely would be pleased to have everything under one roof! From leather jackets, glove, T-shirt and some spare parts for your lovely bike, make more sense to drop by to visit these store!














































At these events, I managed hook-out with peoples behind Red Garage, they're friendly. Hmm.. I need to arrange my time to visit them soon!

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