The following appeared as part of an article in the business section of a local newspaper Motorcycle X has been manufactured in the United States for over 70 years Although one foreign company has copied the motorcycle and is selling it for less the compa

At its core, this newspaper argues that the popular assumption about the failure of a foreign company to compete for motorcycle X customers is wrong. The newspaper relies on several arguments to back up its claim; unfortunately, these arguments rest on faulty assumptions and unsupported leaps of faith. It very well may be that the popular assumption is wrong, but unless and until better evidence is presented, it would be folly to take this on faith.

From the very beginning, the newspaper article makes a pair of assumptions. In giving prominent placement to the cheaper cost of the foreign alternative, it assumes that consumers are price-sensitive when purchasing a motorcycle. And in discussing the likelihood that a lack of noise drives domestic preference, the article gives the counterexample of quiet foreign cars, hoping the reader will miss the assumption that consumers of cars and consumers of motorcycles have similar desires. Each of these assumptions is stated as fact with no supporting evidence, yet contrary assumptions are trivial to come up with. For instance, motorcycles tend to be bought in flashier colors, while cars tend to be purchased in more neutral tones. And the mere existence of both luxury cars and motorcycles make clear that price is not necessarily a driving concern to vehicle purchasers. The article's arguments would have been stronger had they provided evidence for their assumptions, and adequately explained away counterarguments, but by simply leaving their assumptions to twist in the wind they make their conclusions difficult to support.

Not content to simply rely on questionable assumptions, the newspaper article then proceeds to make unsupported leaps of faith. The writer of the aritcle goes on at length about the advertisements for the American-made motorcycle X, calling out the lack of emphasis on engine sounds. And while the contents of the ads are not up for debate, the logical leap that follows most certainly is: the article takes the lack of emphasis on the purr of the motorcycle X engine in ads as proof that this sound doesn't really matter to consumers. But this overlooks a much more simple explanation, namely that such a well-established brand doesn't need to hit its potential customers over the head with repeated references to an already-known feature of its product. After all, Tiffany doesn't bother to mention the quality of its silver in a necklace ad...why waste precious ad time on something everyone knows when that time could be used expounding on any of a number of other, newer, and less well-known selling points? Applying Occam's Razor to this makes clear that the article's leap of faith when considering advertising content was not just unsupported, but is likely to have been incorrect.

Finally, the article fails to grapple with other well-known trends that provide a better explanation for the lack of foreign motorcycle sales. At a time of rising populism and nationalist sentiment, as illuminated by the rise of the Tea Party and the sharply increased tariffs on foreign goods demanded by the electorate, simple preference for domestic products is a much more likely reason for observed motorcycle sales. It is a shame that the article's author omits these concepts, as doing so has undermined their credibility.

it is clear that the article's arguments are unconvincing. It rests on faulty assumptions and unsupported leaps of faith while blatantly ignoring the obvious, and in doing so fails to provide any rational basis to support its conclusions.