' ve had quite a reaction to my comment of last month . It was written just after the news that Harley was to ' float ' its LiveWire operation , turning it , in effect , into a joint venture with private equity investors and South Korea ' s KYMCO - in which it will still own 74 %. Rather than a conventional IPO , private offering or direct listing , Harley ' s choice has been to use a SPAC ( Special Purpose Acquisition Company ) to bypass some of the scrutiny and uncertainty that other routes to market generally involve - especially the IPO route . The news was reported ( as we would normally do ) based mostly on Harley ' s own widely propagated news release and , as I usually do , I reserved my primary personal observations ( be they good , bad or indifferent ) for my Comment piece . I was almost entirely complimentary - talking mostly about how advanced its plans already were and discussing the S2 , S3 and S4 ' Arrow ' powertrain platforms that now make this iteration of the LiveWire project a viable , forward-facing and , above all , modular proposition . One that rescues the brand from its doomed initial price-point trauma ($ 30k ) and makes it a versatile offer that can speak to multiple potential user groups , demographics and price-points . All good . The only issue I raised was what appeared to me to be pretty ambitious , indeed unrealistically ambitious forecasts for how many units Harley will be selling and how quickly it would be getting there . Harley ' s forecast is to be selling some 100,000 LiveWire units ( worth around $ 1.7bn ) by 2026 and some 190,000 units by 2030 . My strong belief being that ( as with cars ), until there is compulsion in primary markets , namely until markets like the United States and Europe have regulated new internal combustion engine models out of showrooms , such forecasts are the stuff of dreams . The reactions I have had have fallen largely into different camps . First , and most silly , are those who have misinterpreted my remarks as a call for soonest possible regulation for an end to ICE production . As the proud owner of a gas guzzling 20-year-old V8 Jaguar , I am far from being a conventional tree hugger . A second group of reactions , and another that is equally as wide of the mark , assumes that I just don ' t understand shares , trading , Wall Street , investment vehicles and all that good stuff . For the record , and in the interests of full disclosure , I am in fact a Harley stockholder . I also have shares in Polaris ( Indian Motorcycle ), PIERER Mobility of Austria ( the KTM , Husqvarna and GasGas parent company ) and in the Volkswagen Audi Group ( VAG ) - for the only reason that that is the corporate entity that is the ultimate ( and therefore tradable ) beneficial owner of Ducati . I quite openly admit to not being an expert investor . Quite the opposite in fact . Everybody needs to recognize their limitations , and I became sanguine about my limited abilities as a stock picker a long time ago . The other reactions that I received are split between those who simply assume I just don ' t like America ( get a life !) and , interestingly , those who say " Hurrah ! Thank goodness there is still someone who ' ll speak up when the emperor is wearing no clothes ." Among that latter group , the reactions from European readers have been the

most instructive . Europe is at least a decade closer to accepting the need to eliminate tailpipe carbon emissions than the U . S . is , and their response has been " Harley is insane !" Unless it is banking on some 60,000 a year or more of those 100,000 units being LiveWire badged low cost , " low displacement " urban sales in Asia - in which case the dollar sales value forecast is way off beam . I hope I ' m wrong . My shareholding will doubtless prosper if I am . But realistically ? Nah . I stick to my opinion that until or unless there is compulsion , demand is going to remain as slow to build as the numbers of available product offerings and the places to charge them are also proving to be . Harley has pushed a lot of good buttons this past couple of years and , I dare say , that by the time the print edition of this month ' s AMD is hitting desks and dealer doormats , they will have pushed some more too . Its " Further . Faster ." MY2022 Part Deux new model launch is due ten days after this edition goes to press . The faster part of that branding likely refers to a second Sportster S model , or to the 117 " engined ' ST ' badged Touring and Softail variants that were absent from Harley ' s " Part the First " MY2022 announcement , or both ; or maybe something along the lines of the Bronx will after all see the light of day ? But maybe the " Further " hints at an additional new LiveWire model to sit alongside the $ 20k LiveWire One . A model that convincingly addresses the range issue - so will go " Further " between charges . Who knows - I clearly don ' t , but either way , Harley / LiveWire will need to ' Get on The Gas ' (!) with additional electric model announcements if they are going to stand any chance of even being able to wave lovingly in the distance at its six-figure unit numbers forecast five years from now . This whole business of LiveWire , the SPAC and the forecasts were going to be among the ( many ) subjects I was looking forward to being able to talk with people about on my end of January first trip back into the United States in 24 months . I had two weeks planned . I was going to fly out from the UK to Las Vegas for AIMExpo , then spend a week on the West Coast visiting vendors , then take in the Drag Specialties Louisville NVP on the way back . However , as reported , LeMans took the very difficult decision to cancel its show , and at short notice too . Having already taken the personal decision that the first two legs of the trip were overly ambitious at this time , there was much additional disappointment surrounding its decision to can Louisville - but , to be fair , it was the right decision . Drag Specialties , Parts Unlimited and their parent company are to be complimented for having the chops to put the real interests of their employees and guests above all else . Kudos !

Robin Bradley

Co-owner / Editor-in-Chief robin @ dealer-world . com

* this is the date when the digital edition goes live online , the print copies typically go into the international mail on a priority service five days later .

4 AFTERMARKET MOTO DESIGN - FEBRUARY 2022 www . AMDchampionship . com