Harley and the Biker Wars - Japan Takes No Prisoners | 4
Business Wars
Audible
4.6 • 13.5K Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2019
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s 1963. After battling the wave of British bikes vying for the high-dollar U.S. motorcycle market, Harley-Davidson is slammed by a tsunami of machines from Japan. Kawasaki, Yamaha, Suzuki and—the biggest, most popular of them all—Honda.
It’s a nightmare that will force the company to the edge of bankruptcy as the Japanese redefine the industry. Whether Harley can change with the changing times remains to be seen.
On the literary front, writer Hunter Thompson canonizes the Hells Angels with his bestselling book dissecting the outlaw biker crew, highlighting their passion for Harleys.
As Honda’s sunshiney ‘60s ad jingle says, you meet the nicest people on a Honda. It begs the question, who do you meet on a Harley?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, prime members, you can listen to business wars at free on Amazon music. |
| 0:04.8 | Download the app today. |
| 0:07.0 | It's a summer morning in 1963. |
| 0:18.6 | The sun is rising over the leafy Milwaukee suburb of Elm Grove, where everyone is fast |
| 0:24.4 | to sleep. |
| 0:25.9 | That includes William H. Davidson, the 60-year-old president of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, |
| 0:31.6 | slumbering next to his wife Ruth. |
| 0:34.5 | Like everybody, she calls him Bill. |
| 0:38.2 | And Bill is dreaming. |
| 0:41.6 | He's dreaming of a magical place where the only kind of motorcycle is Harley-Davidson. |
| 0:48.2 | The satisfying rumble of well-tuned Harley engines fills the air. |
| 0:53.0 | All the riders are clean-cut, well-dressed people who smile and wave as they glide by. |
| 1:00.1 | There are no competing bikes from England. |
| 1:02.7 | There are no cars to lure riders away. |
| 1:05.6 | There are no savage low-life bike gangs, tarnishing the Harley name. |
| 1:10.6 | And most of all, there's no such thing as Honda. |
| 1:15.7 | It's perfect. |
| 1:17.2 | It's heaven. |
| 1:20.0 | It's 501 and his clock radio goes off. |
| 1:24.0 | It's great. |
| 1:27.0 | It's fabulous. |
| 1:31.0 | It's super. |
... |
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