Harley-Davidson launches brand of electric motorcycles – KION546

December 14, 2021

By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN Business

Harley-Davidson’s brand of electric motorcycles, LiveWire, will debut next year as a separate, publicly traded company.

LiveWire will still be 74% owned by Harley-Davidson and its financial results will be published with Harley’s, but it will have its own trading of shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “LVW”. The new company will go public in the first half of 2022 through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, according to Harley-Davidson. Taiwanese motorcycle company Kymco is also investing in the new company and will hold a 17.3% stake.

The spin-off gives LiveWire a business valuation of nearly $ 1.8 billion. Harley-Davidson’s current overall market capitalization is approximately $ 5.8 billion.

LiveWire currently offers only one model, the LiveWire One at $ 22,000. The 100-horsepower bike has a range of 146 miles in low-speed city driving and 70 miles in high-speed highway driving. The Harley LiveWire electric motorcycle was first introduced as a concept bike in 2014. It went on sale as a production model in 2019, but was often criticized for its high price tag during its era. approximately $ 30,000.

Harley-Davidson plans for LiveWire to release three more electric motorcycle models, but the company has not provided a timeline for when. It plans to sell around 190,000 electric motorcycles worldwide in 2030. In 2021, Harley-Davidson sold less than 400 LiveWire motorcycles. The brand will also market small electric bicycles for children.

LiveWire competes with young electric motorcycle makers like Zero and Lightning, both based in the United States, and Italian Energica. Electric motorcycles currently only represent 1% of motorcycles sales in the United States, according to Harley-Davidson, but the company expects them to be 10% by 2026. By then, they are expected to represent 13% of sales in Europe and 45% in China, according to a Harley-Davidson. -Presentation of Davidson investors.

Harley-Davidson announced its own five-year strategy earlier this year, which was to focus on the brand’s core market segments – large touring and cruising motorcycles.