Who Owns Harley-Davidson, And Where Are Its Motorcycles Made?

Thanks to their consistency in making reliable motorcycles, Japanese brands like Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, and Kawasaki have successfully gained dominance in the United States. In fact, in 2024, almost 50% of owners have a Japanese bike, and Honda is currently the leading motorcycle brand in the country, according to Statista.

While Japanese motorcycles are undeniably great rides, American riders have stayed quite loyal to one bike manufacturer with domestic roots: Harley-Davidson. It's only second to Honda in overall U.S. market share, but Harley-Davidson motorcycles are easily among the most recognizable on the road. Models like the Fat Boy and Sportster are just as iconic as when they first came out, despite the modern upgrades they received over the years. And now, even after a century in the market, Harleys remain a legendary symbol of freedom and heritage in the biker community.

But 100 years in, and plenty of business changes have surely transpired within H-D. Who owns the company now, and are their motorcycles still U.S.-made?

Harley-Davidson started out as an independent, private company. In 1901, two friends from Milwaukee, Wisconsin — William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson — had a vision of integrating a small single-cylinder engine to a pedal bicycle. They worked on the machine for two years before finally enlisting the help of Arthur's brother Walter, a railroad machinist, in 1903. That same year, they managed to create the first operational H-D motorcycle and founded the Harley-Davidson Motor Co. right in the Davidson backyard shed.

It wasn't until September 1907 when the company was incorporated and another one of Arthur's brothers, William, came on board as a Works manager. By then, Harley-Davidson was already selling motorcycles via a retailer in Chicago and working out of their single-story factory on Juneau Avenue in Milwaukee. From here, it took the company a little over a decade to become the biggest global motorcycle manufacturer. They had a production capacity of more than 28,000 a year, with units distributed in over 60 countries.

From being a private company, H-D launched its public offering in 1965. Four years later, the company was taken over by American Machine and Foundry (AMF), known as a producer of recreational machines. Some of the AMF-era Harley-Davidsons weren't exactly of top quality, and there were problems with clashing business decisions. So in 1981, 13 H-D senior executives bought back the company for $75 million and went on the New York Stock Exchange in 1986.

Today, H-D remains a publicly traded company owned by multiple shareholders. As of March 2025, American investment firm The Vanguard Group owns 11.07% of the stocks, followed by two other investment entities, H Partners Management at 10.19% and BlackRock at 9.03%.

Harley-Davidson bikes are manufactured in five facilities across three countries. There are three plants in the U.S. alone, one in Brazil, and another in Thailand. The factory in York, Pennsylvania was originally owned by American Machine and Foundry (AMF) and used for military weapon production for the U.S. Navy. When AMF acquired H-D, they decided to add motorcycle assembly operations to the York site in 1973, and today, this is where models like the Softail, Touring, Sportster, CVO, and LiveWire electric motorcycles are built.

The two other U.S.-based factories are both in Wisconsin, although not in Milwaukee, where Harley-Davidson's original plant was established. Covering 849,000 square feet, the Menomonee Falls, WI location handles the company's powertrain operations. It develops transmissions and engines like the Big Twin for the Dyna, Softail, and Touring models. The Tomahawk, WI facility, on the other hand, is primarily responsible for rolling out plastic and composite parts. It used to be a boat factory for the Tomahawk Boat Manufacturing Company, which Harley-Davidson acquired in the 1960s.

Outside the U.S., you can find the H-D locations in Manaus, Brazil and Rayong, Thailand. The Manaus site is a Complete Knock Down assembly plant that builds motorcycles from U.S.-made component kits before selling them in Brazil. Meanwhile, the Rayong site, which only opened in late 2018, is also an assembly facility. But recently, it started making models like the Sportster S, Pan America, and Nightster after Harley-Davidson moved some of its production lines to Thailand.