Ive always wondered how Harley would market its silent motorcycles.
But the battery-powered two-wheelers get separate showrooms, sales methodologies and marketing programs aimed at a different target audience.
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Without being exhaustive, lets take a look at some examples.
Im looking primarily at the U.S. market; many other options await in Europe and Asia.
This lower-cost and lower-risk strategy is exemplified by the Volkswagen e-Golf and Fiat 500e.
They also cannot be optimized as an electric because of the homologation process.
However, they make attractive second cars and commuter modules, especially when theyre used.
It supplements, not replaces, the traditional fossil-fuel car.
Im hoping for the latter.
Its certainly the opposite of what Harley-Davidson is doing.
GM is bringing back the Hummer brand as an EV within the GMC brand.
This behemoth will be super powerful and long rangeand will be expensive too.
But itll be clean and fun, so this brand pivot makes a lot of sense.
This carries risks, but separates the EVs from the standard offerings.
The Toyota Prius, a battery-gasoline hybrid, is a very famous and recognizable example of this approach.
It debuted in the U.S. as a 1999 model.
There is no all-electric or gas-only Priusthats not its identity.
GM, shifting focus to pure EVs, built the last Volt on February 19, 2019.
This summer, it will be joined by the Bolt EUV variant.
Lexus did the trick.
Toyota tried this approach at the other endwith small, inexpensive Scion cars, but it was less successful.
Another branding exercise is Geo.
The brand lasted eight years, but never really established itself in the market.
Some people (by design) probably never knew it was a GM brand.
Other sub-brands include VWs ID series.
The ID3 is a Golf-sized e-Golf replacement thats sold in Europe and elsewhere, where the Golf is king.
Next up will be the IDBuzz electric minivan.
German companies like sub-brands.
Mercedes is starting to roll out its EQ line and Audi already offers is expanding its E-Tron lineup.
Sometimes an EV is introduced as a model but is then converted into a sub-brand.
Hyundai brought out the Ioniq hatchback a few years ago in hybrid, plug-in hybrid and full electric versions.
This year Hyundai is expanding Ioniq into an electric sub-brand with multiple models.
These will still be sold in Hyundai showrooms, but as part of a designated EV family.
Polestar was a performance version of selected Volvo vehicles.
There are other new American EV companies.
Rivian will be delivering all-electric pickups and SUVs very soon.
Lucid has beautiful, roomy luxury electric cars with long ranges coming in the near future.
And what about Zero, the electric motorcycle company?
Is there a right way?
Each manufacturer has to decide which way works for them.
Moving to an all-electric future brings great challenges and equally great opportunities.
And if it works out right, someday EVs will simply be known as cars or motorcycles.
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