Kick-starting Harley-Davidson

THE LARGEEU’ dealership with the distinctive orange logo in Berlin’s Huttenstrasse displays a range of Harley-Davidsons from a spectacular custom machine, “Der Texaner”, to the brand-new LiveWire, an electric bike. Yet the Midwestern motorcycle-maker’s only shop in the German capital is deserted owing to covid-19 rules mandating a time slot and a negative test result, which deters most bikers.The shop is usually busy at this time of the year, says a sales assistant. But customers will not return, warns Jochen Zeitz, Harley-Davidson’s newish German chief executive, if the European Union goes ahead with the imposition of a 56% tariff on all imported Harley products from June 1st, which is part of the s retaliation against tariffs on steel and aluminium imposed by the American government. The tariffs will make it impossible for Harley-Davidson to compete with rivals in Europe, says Mr Zeitz, who lodged a legal complaint against the decision as soon as the plan was made public last month.