JOCHEN ZEITZ

PRESIDENT, CEO AND CHAIRMAN OF BOARD OF HARLEY-DAVIDSON INC.

- Ramesh Somani

Did you know that Puma was once on the verge of bankruptcy, and one gentleman steered and helped make it profitable with sales of 4 billion USD? Leading to its stock price skyrocketing by 4000 %! And that man is Jochen Zeitz, now the President, CEO and Chairman of Board of Harley-Davidson Inc. which is also powering the LiveWire, its flagship EV brand. Harley-Davidson is an iconic brand with a cult following and undoubtedly the most desirable motorcycle brand in the world by any measure. Ramesh Somani caught up with him exclusively on his first visit to India as the CEO of Harley-Davidson.

Ramesh Somani: Harley-Davidson has stuck to its roots ever since. How has that changed with the changing lifestyle and the changing landscape? How are things shaping up globally for you?

Jochen Zeitz: We've been around for 120 years. We've seen a lot of changing landscapes, and so there's always the next generation that you need to get excited to ride motorcycles, which is why we've introduced the X440 in India to introduce the next generation of riders to the Harley life, before they graduate to bigger Harleys.

RS: So, Harley's journey has had many strategic overhauls, right? From Rewire to Hardwire but has the brand finally found its game?

JZ: Over 120 years, you need different strategies to succeed. It cannot be just one strategy. And the Rewire was setting us up for Hardwire. It was in the 2020 pandemic where we had to close our factory, like everybody else. And I felt it was necessary to rewire the business. build a new foundation based on which we could then launch a new strategy, which was the Hardwire.