History of Harley-Davidson

The Beginning Of Dealer Networks

The motorcycle marketplace within the first decade from the Twentieth century would be a crowded one. In 1907, a lot more than 40 manufacturers in the usa were producing and selling motorcycles. Of these was Indian motorcycle maker Hendee Manufacturing, that was well coming to becoming a business superpower. The founders of Harley-Davidson as well as their thirteen employees knew the things they were facing.

Going Places

1907 would be a critical year for Harley-Davidson. William A. Davidson came aboard to assist his brothers Arthur and Walter together with William S. Harley. The organization incorporated on September 17th, and sold its first stock to employees and board members. But an even more pivotal decision is made to start recruitment of dealers on the massive. Harley-Davidson enjoyed dealer support since Charles Lang setup the initial operation in 1904 in Chicago. And definitely, the wiser and much more successful manufacturers recognized that visible and accessible dealerships operated by trained and dedicated people might make the main difference between big and small sales figures. Time following 1907 would prove that oftentimes, the dimensions and strength of the company's dealer network could mean the main difference between survival and bankruptcy.

The Board of Directors dicated to rent space in the Chicago Auto Show in November of 1907 to be able to recruit dealers. To entice potential dealers, price breaks were offered by an interest rate that increased with each motorcycle Buying A Harley Davidson. (In the 5th machine bought, the dealership earned a $30 rebate.)

A Customer-Centric Philosophy

By 1916, Arthur already needed to divide the country into districts, having a factory representative as liaison to every district, later referred to as district managers. It had been also time 1912 to 1916 the Company published playboy The Harley-Davidson Dealer, whose articles ranged in the basics of store layout towards the intricacies of piston wear. Most significantly, the Harley-Davidson Dealer stressed that customer loyalty needed to be earned.

A Basis Of Dealers

Company founder and today Sales director Arthur Davidson departed on one cylinder Harley-Davidson� motorcycle for brand new England to start more formal and aggressive dealer recruitment. Towards the end of 1908, dealerships were established in Ny, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Newark among a number of other cities.

After 1912, over 200 Harley-Davidson� dealers were functioning in the usa, and also the first overseas distributorship was established in Japan. European sales were established using the London office in 1914, that was known as the Foreign Branch. London eventually took total sales beyond South and north America.

A Worldwide Mindset

By 1920, there have been already a couple of,000 Harley-Davidson� dealers worldwide in 67 different countries, just 16 years after C.H. Lang first took an opportunity on the little company from Milwaukee. Throughout the 1920's, overseas sales made around seventy-five percent from the amount earned by domestic dealers. Harley-Davidson still remains a worldwide presence within the motorcycle industry.

Rapport That Defines A Brand Name

With no network of enthusiastic dealers, Harley-Davidson will not have survived the truly amazing Depression, and perhaps might have foundered within the challenging times of the late 1960's on with the early 1980's.

It is a relationship that did not merely stand the exam of your time, but defined a shared heritage. With no information on a network of dealers, Harley-Davidson might have wound up a footnote to motorcycle history.