IMO It's not a new bike Harley needs, it's a new attitude. They do not create a culture of riding enthusiasts, they cultivate an elitist product culture that in many ways has nothing to do with riding, which I think keeps non-Harley riders out of their showrooms. When they do introduce a new bike that should have appeal, it ends up not selling well because it is counter Harley culture, and they have not courted the buyers that it does appeal to very effectively, and in cases where they have tried, their loyal customers will make sure to shoo them away in any case. It's too bad because some of those bikes are very good, and Harley's racing heritage is real.
It's a tough position to be in (for Harley I mean) they have a very loyal following, but they live and die by the image they have created. For a while the lure of the weekend "outlaw" impersonator sold lots of bikes, and you have to hand it to them, it was brilliant marketing, they offered freedom to the overstressed white collar crowd (weird eh?). But long term, if you want to have mass appeal it cannot be done within the narrow market focus Harley has established.
Would Harley be in a better financial position if they had a share of the market for those 1 billion motorcycles sold in China and India? I don't know, but to even consider that, first HD would have to see themselves as being in the people transport business. Harley is not really a motorcycle company, they are an image factory, and one of the accessories they sell is a motorcycle. They need to be applauded for having created a brand so strong and identifiable, even if it has been the reason for the financial roller coaster they seem to ride.
In the 1940's when air travel became more commonplace for the average citizen, not one ocean going business saw themselves sufficiently in the travel business to start an airline, and those that did failed because they tried to do it from within their ocean going business, wrong culture, lack of belief that airplanes could supplant ships, so no commitment to succeed. The moral? It's really hard to change a company.