Indian Motorcycle became independent from its former owner Polaris last week on February 2. The buyer of the motorcycle brand is Carolwood LP, which has chosen CEO Mike Kennedy to lead the company.
Kennedy states that, although “Polaris is a great organization,” making Indian independent of the conglomerate will allow the brand to flourish.
In the short-term, don’t expect any models from Indian outside its core cruiser-based business. On that topic, Kennedy stated:
“We’re going to be laser-focused,” he said. “People ask me, ‘Are you going to get into electric? What about small bikes? What about adventure bikes?’ All that is fair game down the road, but our product strategy out of the gate is cruisers, baggers and touring.”
“When we put all our product development, sales and marketing efforts into those categories, we’re going to outperform even more than we already are. If we’re successful, you’ll see the brand as it is now, but on a larger scale.”
Kennedy also emphasized strengthening its Indian dealer network, something that should be important to motorcycle consumers everywhere.
Indian manufacturing will continue to be based in the United States as the brand celebrates its 125th anniversary this year. In case you are wondering, that makes Indian Motorcycle the oldest U.S. manufacturer, even surpassing Harley-Davidson.
So Indian will not be chasing emerging markets, such as electric motorcycles and smaller displacement cruisers (many from China). We will see how this strategy plays out.
good luck w that strategy
I was shocked to learn just how BIG the ATV market has become after moving out of an urban area, the Milwaukee suburb of Chicago based on all the CUB’s stickers there, to a small town. They are everywhere roaring around and being used by people who otherwise would be riding Harley’s. (kinda want one now)
The market has changed and Polaris is already big in it. Put your energy there.
The new owners are a private equity fund, and likely got a sweet deal on taking Indian private. Good riddance, says Polaris Inc. Private equity fund managers are masters at stripping away all unnecessary costs, laying off R&D, ruthlessly driving efficiency, paying themselves exorbitant management fees, and ultimately draining the last dollar out of a brand. Then they sell off the corpse to someone else to eventually bury. I’ll give them four years, maximum. There will be no new models. There might be a product placement of Indian motorcycles in a future block buster movie, but I doubt the owners would approve the product placement fee. Indian could go viral on Tik Tok or Instagram, but that’s a stretch. There’s nothing cool about an American V-Twin in modern America. The demographics for big twin cruisers is dying off too fast for replacement. Their best hope is to offer exclusive special editions at extremely high prices, because a few rich Americans are still buying exclusive things.
Claiming the brand is “Celebrating its 125th anniversary” is a bit of a stretch. Kind of like the Egyptians claiming they’re celebrating their 4700th anniversary of building pyramids.
One thing the article didn’t mention was why Polaris sold off the brand, although that may be in a previous article I missed. Any chance they’ll revive Victory? Guess I need to look at their website.
Zero chance of Victory being revived. The Indian division of Polaris only turned a profit in a few quarters, after 12 years of production. The reason they sold Indian is because they need the money. During the years that Scott Wine was CEO, Polaris did a lot of questionable acquisitions, almost all of which ended up being worth very little. If Polaris and Harley don’t get their acts together, both companies will be in serious financial trouble. If they can’t turn a profit during a period of economic growth, they will be dead when the next recession comes. I would be sorry to see it. Harley never made a street version of the XR750, which everyone wanted. Indian never made a 750 in the modern era, and I believe that would have sold well. After all, Triumph basically doubled their sales with the new 400cc bikes. In fact, this year Triumph may well outsell Harley. When did that last happen? Maybe 1969?
Totally agree. I’m surprised there are enough assets to make selling them off profitable. Look for deals at unprofitable dealers who are suckered into buying the worthless inventory.
ed kretz (#38) took all that crap OFF of his bike…
Nostalgia sales has a limited population base which is decreasing constantly, as relevancy to real world experience is only an illusion.
The appeal of artifacts from a lost time long ago is not sustainable, when there is no actual person alive from those days of yesteryear. No street cred available now. I like the looks of the new Vintage, but it has nothing to do with my lifetime, and showing up at a biker bar will not impress any one. Of course the same thing can be said about a new BSA Goldstar.
Pull back handle bars feel as though the bike will fall inward around a slow corner. I have been told by a recovery gent that Indian shift lever shafts achieve a serious amount of damage internally when the bike is dumped. I love their showrooms though.
Funny that while the global market seems to be moving to motorcycle appliances with parallel twins the American dinosaur dynasty is lazer focusing on team obsolete. They even dropped the FTR. Wouldn’t want anyone to think the company had anything remotely like a pulse. The FTR is the only model I ever heard anyone under fifty mention.
I guess it is kind of polite of them to notify us all not to expect anything beyond the bold new fenders shown above. I just don’t know why a company would be so stubborn in their refusal to go after a younger market. I’m 64. And I look at the Indian line as bikes for old guys.
No thanks. Although I’ve owned an Indian before, and loved it, (And love the look of the new Vintage) I’ve gone back to smaller bikes. I think both Indian and Harley had better be careful ignoring the small bike market.
I too have moved to smaller bikes. My Road King is collecting dust, while my CB650R is racking up the miles. Lighter, quicker and more aesthetically pleasing to my eye. I must admit my age may have influenced my move to smaller bikes.