https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/business/harley-davidson-thailand-factory-manufacturing.html
"Motorcycles made in the new factory —
plans for which had not been previously disclosed — will be sold in Asia, not the United States, which its domestic plants will continue to serve, Harley-Davidson said."
(
meaning they initially blamed Trumps import tax plan, then had to confess)
"
Still, unions representing its workers in the United States are not pleased.
“Why couldn’t we build them in the U.S. and export them?” asked Leo W. Gerard, the international president of the United Steelworkers, which represents Harley-Davidson workers at plants in Wisconsin and Missouri. He expressed concern that the company could be entering a “race to the bottom” in pursuit of lower labor costs."
"
Harley-Davidson argues that steep trade barriers in a high-growth market, not a desire to cut American jobs, drove the move. Southeast Asia offers rapid development and increasingly affluent spenders, but many countries in the region levy high tariffs on imported goods that make its motorcycles prohibitively expensive, the company says.
“Building bikes in the U.S. and exporting them does not get us the benefits that we’re talking about when it comes to the tariff barriers,” said Mr. McAllister, a 22-year veteran of the company."
"Harley says the new Thailand plant will help it serve more Asian riders like Akaravech Chotinaruemol, a retired financial analyst in Bangkok who collects Harleys and enjoys taking them on winding road trips in Thailand’s rural and mountainous north. For him, nothing else compares to the sound and sensation of riding a Harley.
“I only ride Harley-Davidson,” he said, “and nothing else.”
“It’s a hobby to me, a toy, holiday entertainment,” he added. “And it’s also like a traveling companion.”
Mr. Akaravech’s most expensive Harley, a custom 2013 Road Glide, cost roughly $60,000, thanks in part to Thailand’s high tariffs. In the United States, the same model retails for just over half that amount. (The Thailand plant would assemble lower-cost motorcycles.)"