It’s a new man in the Company!
At the beginning of 2021, Kolja Rebstock was appointed Regional Vice President EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Managing Director of the DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland).
This means that, in addition to Jochen Zeitz, Chairman, President and CEO of Harley-Davidson, another German is now responsible for the company’s fortunes in a key position. This development sounds very promising: after all, Jochen is credited with the successful reactivation of sporting goods supplier Puma, and Harley-Davidson’s share price is back at around $30 (in Dec’19 it was $14).
Kolja Rebstock comes from a related industry, only he is switching from 4 wheels to 2 wheels. He brings more than 25 years of experience in the international automotive industry to the Company.
Just a few days ago, he was CEO and Managing Director of the German business of Mitsubishi Motors. His previous stations were Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz, where he held various management positions in sales and aftersales worldwide.
Jochen Zeitz expresses his appreciation and optimism: “Kolja has considerable experience in working with dealer networks and in implementing a specific brand experience at the point of sale. He will lead the execution of our five-year strategic plan, The Hardwire, in these challenging times and his vast experience will be a tremendous asset to Harley-Davidson across the EMEA region.” And as they look to strengthen the DACH region as a prioritized market, “a strong network of profitable dealers is essential,” Jochen further explained.
Harley-Davidson is launching “The Hardwire”, a new strategic plan for the years 2021 to 2025. Some points are already being implemented. For example, new models are no longer presented in late summer, as was previously the case, and are presented beforehand only to dealers, professionals and the press. From now on, anyone can take part in an online presentation and view the new models and new accessories live.
The premiere of the virtual product launch is on January 19, 2021 at 5 p.m. (CET). You can find the registration on the Harley-Davidson website.