Tastes and colors... when looking at HD 2016 results, they have a much better growth overseas, even if they still do 50% of their business in the USA. More exactly they are growing overseas, and receding in the USA.
In Europe some HD paint are not appreciated the way they are in the USA. I even heard of a guy at my local HD dealership that had a CVO repainted in black.
I for my part switched from BMW to HD in 2010 for different reasons, one of them being the massive deployment of speed traps all around the country, including laser radars. The police is testing drones over highways nowadays. I know that I'm not alone to have followed this approach. HD bikes give a smile at a reasonable speed so you risk less problems. However guys like me usually appreciate more neutral colors compared to what many American bikers seem to like.
Just my 0.2 cents.. but I wouldn't be surprised that colors are selected to try to match marketing targets. I would also expect that in the future, colors become market related, different colors made available to different markets so everyone would be pleased. However this require a minimal volume of sales while what I read here and there is a reduction of the quantity of CVO bikes.