Earlier this month, Polaris Industries Chairman and CEO Scott Wine made the decision to wind down the production of Victory Motorcycles over the next 18 months. In a somber statement, Wine said, “This was an incredibly difficult decision for me, my team and the Polaris Board of Directors. Over the past 18 years, we invested not only resources, but our hearts and souls into forging the Victory Motorcycles brand, and we are exceptionally proud of what our team has accomplished.”
The Future of Indian Motorcycles
During that time, Polaris made the move to acquire and develop the famed Indian Motorcycle brand, where the company will now focus its attention. The move is already paying off; in its first year on the market, Indian sales doubled for Polaris. The strong existing brand, combined with Polaris’ design and engineering knowledge, could build a line of just a few models that eclipsed Victory’s previous 16 years of effort to grow sales.
The good news for Polaris is that employees who worked on the Victory brand will be able to work jobs in other parts of the industry. Few shut-down stories have such a silver lining, but the Polaris power sports segments is expanding rapidly and the company will be able to avoid the pain of layoffs.
Victory took major risks over the years, mostly with the first production of the V92C built in 1998. Models like the V92SC Sport Cruiser, the Vision tourer, the Vegas Cross Country and Project 156 were credited with saving the brand and had critics pointing out how the company’s spirit and expertise allowed it to survive mistakes and manufacture even better bikes.
However, the market simply couldn’t support the Victory brand and the company could no longer ignore declining sales. The Victory NHRA drag racing program will continue through 2017 and the company will continue to support dealers in selling remaining inventory through the next 18 months and will support owners with parts and service for the next 10 years.
Victory was originally started as a competitor to Harley-Davidson, but has been unprofitable over the past few years. Realizing Indian had better growth prospects, the decision was made to focus on the brand that could give Harley a serious challenge.
Wine also said, “The decision will improve the profitability of Polaris and our global motorcycle business, and will materially improve our competitive stance in the industry”.