Shortly after the prototype of the bike was presented at the EICMA in Milan in 2019, Harley-Davidson pulled the plug on project Bronx, the first streetfighter of the Americans. However, there is hope on the horizon, as Harley has redefined the name.
Go back in time. In July 2018, Harley-Davidson launched as part of its new “More Roads to Harley-Davidson” strategy, which hinted at expanding its range into new segments, with talk of an Adventure Touring model called the Pan America 1250 , a 1250 Custom model and a 975cc streetfighter model.
A year later at the EICMA in Milan, the prototypes of the Pan America 1250 and the streetfighter, which had been renamed the Bronx and powered by a liquid-cooled 975cc 60° V-twin called the Revolution Max 975, were unveiled, for which Harley is committed to of more than 115 horsepower.
The plan then was to have the Bronx in dealerships by the end of 2020, as a 2021 model, but just a few months later that would all change. Due to the decline in sales, CEO Matt Levatich was sidelined and replaced by Jochen Zeith and the first thing he did was dump Levatich’s “More Roads” strategy in the trash.
Zeith came up with the “Hardwire” plan, refocusing on Harley’s core customer base. Project Plan America was continued because there is a very large market for fat Allroads worldwide, but project streetfighter Bronx was much more in the niche and so that model was removed from the list of future models at Harley.
Strictly speaking, however, Harley has never said that it has definitively canceled the Bronx, and now there is an indication that the model will still be put on the market by the Americans. The Motor Company has re-filed its trademark on the Bronx name.
Or rather, extended. In 2017, Harley-Davidson registered the name “Bronx”, the 2022 application is for “motorcycles and parts thereof”. The rationale for the new filing lies in Section 1B, “Intent to Use,” which the U.S. Patent Office describes as “a bona fide intent to use your trademark in the trade in goods and/or services in the near future.” .”
In December 2021, the US Trademark Modernization Act went into effect, designed to make it easier to remove unused trademarks from the federal registry and stop the filing of names that are never used.
Thus, now that Harley-Davidson has re-established the Bronx name, it can be stated with certainty that Harley at least intends to use the name in the near future, as described in Section 1B.
Remember, Harley never officially said the Bronx was completely scrapped, it was just dropped from the list of future models. During a conference in October 2020, Zeitz said he would not hesitate to postpone or cancel models such as the streetfighter and the new application of the Bronx name strongly suggests that this was a matter of postponement and not cancellation.
– Thanks for information from Motorfreaks.