The agreement is to allow the appointment of further retailers, Bloomberg reports. Harley-Davidson reportedly aims to enact a “subsidiary operating structure in Brazil” comparable to ones it has established in other markets.
The American motorcycle manufacturer has been selling bikes in Brazil since 1993 and currently lists nine Brazilian dealers on its website. In addition to that, Harley-Davidson also has a factory in Manaus, Brazil, that has been operating since 1999 assembling bikes for the local market.
This announcement is also expected to have an impact on the company’s shares, as the costs associated with the Brazilian expansion projected to reduce profits this quarter by five to six cents per share. Harley-Davidson shares have gained 28 percent this year.
The brand has also turned to a more innovative marketing approach last month, launching an unconventional and controversial technique as the source of its main creative development. Specifically, Harley-Davidson revealed it will use crowdsourcing to develop a new project dubbed Creativity Model, which is expected to debut in early 2011.
Crowdsourcing takes marketing tasks traditionally performed by employees or contractors and gives them out to selected respondents to the company’s pitches, in essence turning over its marketing to its customers.
"We don't lead with agencies, we lead with customers," said Harley-Davidson Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Mark-Hans Richer. "That's why we've created a new approach for how we engage our customers through the Harley-Davidson brand. In the U.S. we're number one in on-road market share with every customer segment, including with young adults and women, but we know we can do even better to reach them."
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