HARLEY-DAVIDSON has put pen to paper with Chinese manufacturing partner, Qianjiang and signed off on the production of its latest new machine.
The bike, dubbed the HD350 – despite being 388cc, is based around the engine, chassis and running gear of the Benelli 302S, a bike already built by Qianjiang - whom Benelli are a subsidiary of. The news of the new bike comes at a time of change for Harley-Davidson, as the brand look at making a landgrab of younger riders through models like this, the Livewire electric bike, Bareknuckle, and the Bronx bike we saw in the flesh at EICMA.
We have no official pictures of the machine, although it is thought to be very similar to the design sketches shown earlier in the year, a machine with aside from seat unit and fuel tank is almost identical to the Benelli 302S.
While the idea of a baby Harley-Davidson may pull at the heartstrings of some aspiring UK-based riders, we don’t expect an official release over here. It’s likely H-D are going to use the model to help gain a foothold in the Chinese, Indian and Thai markets.
It’s also unknown as to whether the company will use the HD350 moniker or go for a more snappy and youthful tag-line for the new machine. We expect to see a nearly finished version of the new bike at the 2020 EICMA. It’s at this show that we also expect to see the final production version of the Pan America and the Bronx as well.
