IF There Was An Equivalent Of A HARLEY In The Car Business, WHICH Make And Model Would It Be?

Muscle cars are definitely the spirit, so Mustang, Camaro, Charger, and Challenger.

I agree LOL. The Japanese do bikes far better than Harley.

lada ;)

I don't think muscle cars are really analogous to a Harley. New muscle cars have some pretty sophisticated engineering. Harley isn't about pushing performance envelopes. I think it's more analogous to the Jeep Wrangler. Both are old school technology that are iconic in their own ways, very American, with followers who are lead by their heart more than their head.

But Jeeps aren't loud and obnoxious like Harleys and modern muscle cars are obnoxiously loud. LOL

Dodge challenger, old, heavy and made for fat people, has harley written all over it.

Thus my logic. The Mustang and Camaro also appeal to that crowd but they have been very successful at cracking the Millennial code by being skewed toward being true sports cars. The Challenger is as old school as old school gets and the demographics there are much difference from the Mustang and Camaro. The Hemi Chargers have been very successful with Latino and African-American demographics. I find the market research on who buys what to be fascinating.

Do people still buy Harleys? I thought their demographics were buy assisted living units.

Sales of Harleys are quite strong and the profits are sizable.

@scenicbyway12: In the 1990s and turn of the century, Harley stock was gold. Yes, they are in decline. Some facts:

1) Harley Davidson motorcycles are "premium" (expensive), non-essential, recreational, seasonal (in most places) products. To keep selling them, you need people who desire these products, and have sufficient disposable income to drop $15K on a cool toy. During the 1990s or so, Baby Boomers were in a position to participate, and they did! Harley did really well then!

2) Baby Boomers are in their 50s close to 70 now. They're planning for retirement, or retired.

3) So far, no demographic has stepped in to take up the slack from the aging Boomers. Plus, there is no affluent demographic today that wants to spend (or who *can* spend) $15K on a non-essential, recreational, seasonal (in most places) product.

4) Total motorcycle sales are off. They peaked in the US in 2006 at around 1.2M units annually. By 2010 they were down 2/3 (!) to about 400,000 annually. They made a slight recovery in the following years, but they're on a declining trend, along with Harley, for the past several years.

5) Harley sales are down. Harley has already closed one of its US factories and set up a smaller factory in Asia.

6) Harley stock (NYSE:HOG) is down about 16% over the past 5 years, even though it's had its peaks and valleys. It has been trending downward since January 2017. Harley is working hard to reverse the trend. It's not just HD. It's recreational motorcycles in general.

TVR

I like the Jeep analogy.

'57 Chevy

I agree with the Jeep Wrangler analogy. With Harley you're buying into the lifestyle. Same with a Jeep Wrangler. Corvette is another one.