═【立報】════════════════════════════
教 育 專 題 深 入 報 導
═══════════════════════《2003/08/29》═════
*****【本 期 內 容】
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國際專題 ◎ 哈雷機車
◎ 台灣車迷 正名上路
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◎ 哈雷機車
■編譯、策劃 盧永山
１．
哈雷機車百年慶（AFP）
以生產哈雷機車享譽國際的哈雷戴維森國際公司，本月底將慶祝成立1百週年紀念。美國境內多達30萬的哈雷騎士，將從西北、西南、中南和東北四個方向，分四路駕車駛向哈雷機車的「娘家」密爾瓦基，並於8月27日集合，開始為期3天的盛大慶祝活動。密爾瓦基市內6萬間的旅館房間早在幾個月前已經預定一空，鄰州的飯店情況亦復如此，估計這場盛會將為威斯康辛州帶來1億3千2百萬美元的商業利益。
第一部哈雷機車是在1903年，由21歲的威廉·哈雷（William S. Harley）和20歲的亞瑟·戴維森（Arthur Davidson）在一間小木屋裡拼裝出來的，兩個人並以自己的姓氏命名為「哈雷-戴維森」。之後，兩個人從新英格蘭地區開始發展，1912年，哈雷機車第一次出口日本，之後一直擁有穩定的顧客群。1969年，影星彼得方達與丹尼斯霍柏在合演的電影「消遙騎士」中，帥氣地騎乘哈雷機車後
，這款機車就成為不朽的傳奇。
1980年代，哈雷戴維森國際公司瀕臨倒閉危機，不過在Jeffrey Bleustein接手後，已轉危為安，現在已經銷售到200多個國家。近年來美國經濟下滑，消費能力大減，哈雷機車的年銷量卻以15.7%的比例增長，去年曾創下出產36萬3千輛的驚人紀錄，預計今年產量將再提高10%，達到29萬輛。去年哈雷機車賺進2億6千4百萬美元，今年將更創顛峰，今年首兩季獲利已達3億美元，訂單已經排到了2004年。
早年，哈雷機車的買家主要是戰後嬰兒潮出生者，在他們心目中，哈雷機車及騎士的一身行頭（包括破牛仔褲、夾克衫、靴子、徽章、刺青等），代表的是自由、冒險、狂熱、個人表達不守規矩現在，哈雷機車的買家大約是40多歲的白領階級，平均可支配所得達78萬美元，這些白領階級因為工作競爭，面臨日益增大的心理壓力，他們越來越渴望有一種可以釋放和解脫的方式，這時，騎哈雷機車風馳電掣一番當然是首選。蓋瑞．保森（Gary
Paulsen）所著的《哈雷騎士朝聖之旅》（Pilgrimage On A Steel Ride）一書，就是他騎乘哈雷機車，從新墨西哥州到阿拉斯加，尋回人生與自我的故事。
哈雷機車占北美重型機車46%的市場。但由於哈雷機車過於昂貴，好似有錢中產階級的專屬車種，年輕族群就選擇較便宜、但車速更快的重型跑車，如日系的山葉、本田、川崎等。為了打進年輕族群的市場，讓他們接替嬰兒潮一代，成為公司主要顧客，哈雷機車近年來推出V-Rod系列和Buell?牌車款，而哈雷機車百週年整個慶祝活動，也將一直持續到2003年夏季。
原文：
Harley-Davidson Inc. is charging toward its 100th birthday party later
this month as something more than an American icon: its sales and profits are
healthy, too.
The world-renowned US motorbike builder has come a long way since its
near-death experience in the 1980s. Its centenary will be a blowout in its
hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, next week.
The maker of the classic American cruiser immortalised（成為不朽） by Peter
Fonda and Dennis Hopper in the 1969 movie "Easy Rider" shipped a
record 263,000 units in 2002 and hopes to boost that by 10 percent this year to
290,000.
Its finances, too, are in good shape and analysts are bullish（看漲的） on
the stock.
Harley earned 264 million dollars in 2002 and is on track to top that
this year, posting a tidy 388 million-dollar profit for the first two quarters
of 2003.
Earlier this month, analysts with UBS Investment Research upgraded the
stock from neutral to a buy, citing improving demand industry wide.
"Harley-Davidson dominates its niche," said Don Brown,
president of DJB Associates, an industry analysis company based in Irvine,
California.
Harley-Davidson sells more big road-cruising motorcycles than any other
manufacturer in the United States -- twice as many in fact. However, it lags
Honda in overall sales, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council.
In fact, the only negative most analysts can point to, its solid
following among baby boomers, is one of the manufacturer's greatest strengths.
Harley-Davidson says a typical owner is in his mid-40s, with plenty of
disposable income（可處分所得）, average salary 78,000 dollars. While that's a highly
desirable demographic, especially when the economy is stuck in neutral, the
greying of the baby boomers presents Harley with something of a dilemma.
"Harley is going to have to start attracting younger riders and it
hasn't really done that so far," said Brown.
Harley makes "hogs." The heavy cruisers for relaxed highway
and boulevard riding have an upright seating position, which older riders favor
over the hunkered-down "tuck" （腰部往下擠）of sport bikes.
Sport bikes from Kawasaki, Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki may be cheaper,
faster and more reliable, but Harley riders don't seem to care.
In 2001, Harley introduced the V-Rod, its highest-performance bike to
date. But it didn't catch on among loyal Harley riders, according to Brown.
Harley even markets faster sport bikes under its Buell marque. But it
is reluctant to tinker with the tradition-bound Harley brand in search of new
customers.
"One of the downsides of such a strong brand is that our customers
have a very specific view of what that motorcycle should look like and what it
should be," noted Harley-Davidson chief executive Jeffrey Bleustein.
The bike has a special place in US pop culture: It's edgy and
anti-establishment. That appeals to Hell's Angels（飛車黨組織「地獄天使」） or professionals
on a weekend cruise.
Tens of thousands of bikers flock to annual company-sponsored rallies.
Members of these Harley Owners Groups - who now number 700,000 -- take to the
open road every weekend for cruises with their "extended families."
"Harley-Davidson stands for freedom, adventure, individual
expression and being a little on the edge, a little bit naughty（不規矩的）. People
are drawn to the brand for those reasons," said Bleustein.
Next week, some 300,000 aficionados（迷） are expected to descend on
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the birthplace of Harley-Davidson, for four days of rock
music, beer drinking and bike worship, beginning on Thursday and running
through Sunday.
The city's 60,000 hotel rooms have been booked up for months. Hotels
across the state are sold out too, according to the Greater Milwaukee
Convention and Visitors' Bureau, which estimates the event will pump 132
million dollars into Wisconsin's economy.
As for Generation Y, Bleustein is gambling that the powerful,
high-revving（高轉速） Japanese bikes may be more than they will want to handle when
they get older.
"People grow up and their interests change. They begin to realize
they have too much power and they don't want to have white knuckles all the
time," he said.
２． 20世紀哈雷機車與美國流行文化的關係（The Associated Press）
_Harley-Davidson was the first to introduce the black motorcycle
jacket, in 1947.
_The biker image was immortalized in the 1953 movie "The Wild One（電影「飛車黨」）
," starring Marlon Brando, depicting the real life story of a gang
of bikers who took over the California town of Hollister in 1947.
_American daredevil Evel Knievel（美國摩托車特技演員）defied（抗拒） gravity on his
Harley, riding his bike in thrilling, popular spectacles that drew thousands.
He reached the height of his popularity in 1974, before his unsuccessful
attempt to jump over the Snake River Canyon in Idaho in a jet-powered
"Sky-Cycle."
_Harleys have long been the bad-boy bike of choice for motorcycle gangs
such as the Outlaws and the Hell's Angels.
_The biker lifestyle was glamorized for the first time in 1969's
"Easy Rider," （電影「逍遙騎士」） starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack
Nicholson.
_Tycoon Malcolm Forbes, founder and publisher of Forbes magazine,
started riding in his 40s, and quickly collected 70 bikes. He gave Elizabeth
Taylor a purple and gold custom roadster dubbed Purple Passion for her birthday
in 1987.
_Dan Aykroyd led John Belushi's 1982 funeral procession on a Harley.
_Millions of Harley riders the world over were linked with the
introduction of the Harley Owners Group（哈雷車主俱樂部）in 1983.
_Four of Elvis Presley's Harleys remain on display at Graceland in
Memphis, Tenn.
_Bruce Willis rode a Harley in 1994's "Pulp Fiction."（電影「黑色追緝令」）
_A new museum in Jordan displays the Harleys owned by King Hussein（約旦國王胡笙）,
who rode the bikes to official events and posed on one with his wife for a
Vanity Fair cover. Hussein died in 1999.
_Harley is among the title items in the 2002 book "Power of Cult
Branding: How 9 Magnetic Brands Turned Customers into Loyal Followers."
Experts say Harley successfully associated positive experiences with the brand.
◎台灣車迷
正名上路
今年8月初所舉行的花蓮縣長選舉，除了造就了主要候選人的全國知名度外，花蓮縣地檢署檢察官楊大智也因砲打中央而聞名全台；媒體報導，當初楊大智赴花蓮上任時，就是騎乘一輛哈雷機車。而台灣鄉土作家黃春明也有一輛哈雷機車，並且喜歡騎車狂飆。
事實上，台灣擁有哈雷機車的人數不少，約有2、3百名車主，但過去因政府不准重型機車進口，因此，這些哈雷機車多半是車主透過各種管道進口的，而且它們也都沒有「身分」（牌照），只能讓車主擺在家中觀賞，或偶爾偷偷騎乘上路。
2001年政府廢除重型機車進口的限制，重型機車車主終於可以不用「孤芳自賞」或偷偷摸摸騎乘自己的愛車和警方玩抓迷藏。哈雷機車車主並於2002年9月向內政部申請成立「台灣哈雷機車協會」，並於今年2月10日立案。「台灣哈雷機車協會」的會員也於今年3月29日至30日，至南投娜魯灣山莊舉行大會師。
「台灣哈雷機車協會」秘書長黃德順十幾年前透過朋友認識了哈雷機車，並也成為2台哈雷機車的車主。黃德順表示，台灣擁有哈雷機車的車主約有2、3百位，但「台灣哈雷機車協會」目前只有36名會員，這主要是因為協會剛成立，來不及擴大宣傳，加上有些車主不知道協會的存在，所以並沒有加入協會。黃德順也說，許多車主買哈雷機車只是為了觀賞和裝飾用，並不拿來騎乘。
雖然「台灣哈雷機車協會」會員不多，但他們已決定效法美國哈雷機車車主從各地返回密爾瓦基的精神，分別從北台灣和南台灣分成兩路到中台灣進行大會師。黃德順表示，協會下次大會師的時間大約是今年10月下旬至11月，地點仍是在中台灣。
雖然可以風光上路，但包括哈雷機車車主在內的重型機車車主，還是不能隨心所欲的風馳電掣。黃德順說，重型機車每年要繳交的稅十分沉重，甚至超過汽車，且不得上快速道路或高速公路。為了爭取用路權並要求減輕稅負，重型機車車主28日還齊聚中正紀念堂，向政府單位陳情。