Production Harley-Davidson was offered to move to Ulyanovsk

30 June 2018

Is the new American plant will be built in Russia?

Hardly any other brand of motorcycles can compete in the legend with Harley-Davidson. American brand was founded at the dawn of the twentieth century, it has long been considered a symbol of classic motorcycles, especially when it came to the American market. Now, however, the manufacturer had a very unusual proposal — to move its plant in Ulyanovsk oblast.

Voiced the idea may seem crazy. Where Harley-Davidson, where Ulyanovsk oblast? However, this sentence has an interesting background.

It all started with the fact that the American brand started to study the possibility of transferring production to new regions. The impetus for this was the EU response to introduced Donald trump import duties on steel and aluminum. The old world did not like the protectionist policy of the US President, so he decided to enter a response. Among other things, the EU established import duties on American motorcycles with engine capacity exceeding 800 cubic centimeters. In the end, the tax increased from 6% to 31%. According to the calculations of Harley-Davidson, this will lead to an increase in the average price of motorcycle for $2.2 thousand.

To avoid such a dramatic price hike, the guide Harley-Davidson has decided to open a factory in Europe. Against this backdrop, the Governor of the Ulyanovsk region Sergey Morozov sent a letter to the American company with a proposal to establish an Assembly of motorcycles here.

The idea of the Governor of the Ulyanovsk region was not unique: a few days earlier the idea of transferring the production of Harley-Davidson motorcycles to Russia was expressed by the leader of the motorcycle club "Night wolves" Alexander Zaldostanov, better known as "the Surgeon".