Harley-Davidson has stepped up to the plate for INTERMOT this year. The company has massively increased the size of its usual booth and added a second one in the INTERMOT Customized Hall (Hall 10) adjacent to the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building.
Their mission is to showcase their ‘Dark Custom’ program as a specific “sub-brand” dedicated to the “riders who are looking for the unique ‘Reduced to the Max’ stripped down contemporary look of a platform that is built for customizing,” according to Daniel Becker, the Marketing Project Manager for the Dark Custom program at Harley-Davidson GmbH.
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| Versatility of their ‘Dark Custom’ Street, Sportster and Dyna platforms (adjacent to the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building in Hall 10) will showcase dealer customized examples from this year’s ‘Custom Kings’ contest as well as the “Reduced to the Max” stock platforms |
The 240 sq m (2,580 sq ft) booth will showcase all seven models of Harley’s current ‘Dark Custom’ line-up – the 750 Street, 883 Iron, ‘48’ and new Roadster Sportsters, plus the ‘Dark Custom’ Street Bob, Fat Bob and recently launched Low Rider S Dynas.
Additionally, the booth will showcase examples from this year’s ‘Custom Kings’ dealer competition in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
This year’s chosen platform for the contest was the Sportster Iron, with a customizing budget set at around € 4.000,00 (US$4,500,) half of which had to be spent on product from Harley’s own ‘Dark Custom’ P&A offer, the other half could either be factory P&A or aftermarket parts and accessories.
“The booth design process has been fun,” says Daniel. “Because our range is so broad, it isn’t often that we are able to dedicate such a large space to a specific platform, to a specific look and feel. I guess “shabby chic” might be one way of describing the look we are presenting – personally I prefer to think of it simply as just plain “cool”. Something that is on the cutting-edge of current consumer taste, especially among the new generation of riders that we are attracting – riders who will be an important part of the industry’s future, and riders who have a very new series of attitudes to the motorcycle ownership and riding experience.
“With our ‘Dark Customs’ we think we are “with them” when it comes to meeting those expectations and able to provide the kind of versatile yet contemporary design ethos they are looking for.
“If our sales in Europe are anything to go buy, we do appear to be right in the “sweet spot” with the ‘Dark Customs’, and the results our dealers have achieved in this year’s ‘Custom Kings’ competition show that our dealers understand what riders are looking for.”
www.intermot-cologne.com