I couldn't stop thinking about LiveWire slashing the price of the One by €10,000 to compete with Honda's WN7. I couldn't understand how a company can just cut the MSRP of a product by 41% to compete with another brand. Then I thought, "Just be happy, cheaper motorcycles are good for everyone," except that's not true. Anyone who bought a LiveWire in Europe during the last couple of years has been royally screwed by the company.
When LiveWire announced the One was entering the European market in March 2023, it came with an MSRP of €25,290. This was a lot for an electric motorcycle but less than the massive flop that was the Harley-Davidson LiveWire, which sold in Europe from 2019 to 2022 for €33,000-34,000. After LiveWire became its own brand, reduced the MSRP to fix the atrocious job Harley did of pricing it and started selling in Europe in 2023, sales were still sparse.
We can cheer LiveWire on here for slashing the price in 2023. The current price reduction, however, feels more difficult to support, considering how much it depreciates the resale of existing customers' bikes.
The LiveWire One basically hasn’t changed since 2023, so if you bought one when it came to Europe for around €25,000, seeing it on sale for €14,800 from the same dealership will suck. LiveWire brought the price down to around €20,000 in some European markets in 2025, while others kept the €25,000 MSRP. Also, I have no idea how many dealerships in Europe discounted the bike to get it out of dealerships, or if they did at all. I'm trying to give LiveWire as much benefit of the doubt as possible here.
Whether customers paid €25,000 or €20,000 for a LiveWire within the past two years, their bikes’ resale value has tanked. We don't expect new motorcycles to appreciate; we know they'll depreciate, and even more so if they're electric. But you have a decent idea of the value your bike holds... unless the brand slashes the MSRP by 41% within a year or two of your purchase.
You probably could've sold a 2023 LiveWire One in 2025 for around €17,000-18,000, taking around a 30% hit. But now, people would be lucky to sell the same bike for €11,000 to €13,000. If we take €12,000 as a resale estimate, it means current LiveWire One owners are taking around a 52% hit. The move should be good for the brand in terms of taking customers from Honda, but if I'd already bought a LiveWire, I'd be livid.
