The vanilla challange

The four major Japanese powersports manufacturers are in a tough position. Their business models don't allow them to compete with the niche brands in terms of excitement and enthusiasm, and compared with such emotionally charged brands as Ducati, Moto Guzzi and Harley-Davisons, and such perceived premium brands such as BMW, they're seen as plain, vanilla, ho-hum. Additionally, with nearly identical marketing structures, the Big Four are that much more likely to be mistaken for one another. A row of vanilla manufacturers varying only by packaging color, in other words. How can they overcome that? Given their way of doing business, will they ever?