Indian Motorcycles sold off by Polaris
Discussion
Eight years after shutting down Victory, parent company Polaris has sold a majority stake in Indian to a private equity firm.
https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2025/october/p...
https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2025/october/p...
Given where Harley are, unable to bring in new products because the existing customer base won't accept them, aging customer base who will, in the majority, stop riding in the next 10ish years, this may be a clever move to secure the the future of the only realistic alternative supplier for those remaining Harley customers when Harley goes bust!
Not sure on this one - it could be bad news or could be good. Private Equity always rings warning bells, but the guy they're putting in as head-honcho was the vice president at Harley for 20+ years and was apparently the guy who turned Vance & Hines into the well known (at least to some!) entity they are now.
Just back from the US where I stopped off at the original Indian factory (now apartments) and the Springfield museum which has a great collection of Indian bikes and artefacts. So yes, I am a dyed-in-the-wool Indian fanboy with 4 of them, so clearly I want them to succeed.
The Victory closure thing is not quite as often reported - they didn't just go bust. Polaris wanted to get in to motorcycles as they were already massive in the 'powersports' sector. So they created the Victory brand and designed and built the bike(s) from scratch - new chassis, motors, transmissions etc., even down to the switchgear. These weren't parts bin specials, and on any measure were excellent bikes. Polaris wanted to rival Harley, so they were always going to be v-twins...but the thought was that if they made a 'modern' Harley, that's what people would want to buy. So overhead cams, water cooling on the Octane etc. And some...interesting...styling on some. Only folks didn't really buy them, they still wanted 'traditional' old(er) tech OHV air-cooled v-twins.
So Polaris acquired the Indian brand and initially did just that with another new bike designed from the ground up - the 'Chief' range launched in 2014 (I have one) played on heritage, and was a traditional air-cooled ohv v-twin. But it handled really well, stopped, went well, sounded great and IMHO looked fabulous. And folks bought them, unlike the heritage-free and more modern Victorys. With the Indian name re-established Indian launched the Scout - modern, OHC, water cooled and it sold bucket loads more than the near-as-dammit same bike the Victory Octane. So the closure of Victory wasn't down to it going broke or poor bikes - it was just clear that if you stick an Indian badge on it (i.e. a Scout), it will sell more than a Victory badge (i.e. an Octane). So the Polaris future on 2 wheels had to be Indian badged, and so Victory was closed.
But I think there's a difference between Indian and Harley. Many Harley riders have seemed to be unwilling to accept too much in the way of new technology, so the bikes have kept largely to the same playbook for years. Indian have tried to retain some of the heritage (although the original company went broke in 1953) but have been introducing newer and newer tech within the constraints of a v-twin. The Challenger/Pursuit platform (and thus my Roadmaster, and what races in the King of the Baggers series) has an aluminium chassis, brembo radial brakes, upside-down forks, water cooled OHC motor with 4-valve heads. Actually, the motor design was originally patented by Victory! But it only saw the light of day with an Indian badge on the tank.
Back in the mists of time Indians were one of the best motorcycles on the planet - the largest manufacturer in the world in the early 1900s, won the first running of the TT on the mountain course with 1st, 2nd and 3rd, won the ISDT, very successful race bikes with 4-valve heads etc. Indian was the first to introduce twistgrip controls and had the patent on it. So at one time they were the dog's b
ks...but they went off the rails with some dreadful management decisions. The engine in the Chief was advanced (for a sidevalve) at the time of its launch in the early 30s...but it remained basically unchanged and so by1953 when it all closed is was ancient tech way, behind the contemporary HD motors that had evolved.
I'd like to hope Indian would again be a 'halo' brand. The Challenger/Pursuit/Roadmasters are, I think, the benchmark for big v-twin tourers that actually go fast (relatively) and handle. The 'original' Scout was often referenced as the best bike of its day, and I think the current Scout and its variants are also the leaders in their sector - only the sector being sporty(ish) v-twins is a very small part of the motorcycle market these days. In the late 30s/early 40s the Indian Four was the Indian 'halo' bike - it would be nice to think that since they've re-made Scouts and Chiefs they'd make a Four. And due to heritage, I think a high-tech Indian Four would work, whereas I don't think a Harley four would make sense. And I can think of loads of other historic model names that could be resurrected - maybe a Prince as a 500cc single to rival Enfield, or a Papoose as a small electric scooter
Time will tell - could be good, or could be the end (again!).
/ramble
Just back from the US where I stopped off at the original Indian factory (now apartments) and the Springfield museum which has a great collection of Indian bikes and artefacts. So yes, I am a dyed-in-the-wool Indian fanboy with 4 of them, so clearly I want them to succeed.
The Victory closure thing is not quite as often reported - they didn't just go bust. Polaris wanted to get in to motorcycles as they were already massive in the 'powersports' sector. So they created the Victory brand and designed and built the bike(s) from scratch - new chassis, motors, transmissions etc., even down to the switchgear. These weren't parts bin specials, and on any measure were excellent bikes. Polaris wanted to rival Harley, so they were always going to be v-twins...but the thought was that if they made a 'modern' Harley, that's what people would want to buy. So overhead cams, water cooling on the Octane etc. And some...interesting...styling on some. Only folks didn't really buy them, they still wanted 'traditional' old(er) tech OHV air-cooled v-twins.
So Polaris acquired the Indian brand and initially did just that with another new bike designed from the ground up - the 'Chief' range launched in 2014 (I have one) played on heritage, and was a traditional air-cooled ohv v-twin. But it handled really well, stopped, went well, sounded great and IMHO looked fabulous. And folks bought them, unlike the heritage-free and more modern Victorys. With the Indian name re-established Indian launched the Scout - modern, OHC, water cooled and it sold bucket loads more than the near-as-dammit same bike the Victory Octane. So the closure of Victory wasn't down to it going broke or poor bikes - it was just clear that if you stick an Indian badge on it (i.e. a Scout), it will sell more than a Victory badge (i.e. an Octane). So the Polaris future on 2 wheels had to be Indian badged, and so Victory was closed.
But I think there's a difference between Indian and Harley. Many Harley riders have seemed to be unwilling to accept too much in the way of new technology, so the bikes have kept largely to the same playbook for years. Indian have tried to retain some of the heritage (although the original company went broke in 1953) but have been introducing newer and newer tech within the constraints of a v-twin. The Challenger/Pursuit platform (and thus my Roadmaster, and what races in the King of the Baggers series) has an aluminium chassis, brembo radial brakes, upside-down forks, water cooled OHC motor with 4-valve heads. Actually, the motor design was originally patented by Victory! But it only saw the light of day with an Indian badge on the tank.
Back in the mists of time Indians were one of the best motorcycles on the planet - the largest manufacturer in the world in the early 1900s, won the first running of the TT on the mountain course with 1st, 2nd and 3rd, won the ISDT, very successful race bikes with 4-valve heads etc. Indian was the first to introduce twistgrip controls and had the patent on it. So at one time they were the dog's b
ks...but they went off the rails with some dreadful management decisions. The engine in the Chief was advanced (for a sidevalve) at the time of its launch in the early 30s...but it remained basically unchanged and so by1953 when it all closed is was ancient tech way, behind the contemporary HD motors that had evolved.I'd like to hope Indian would again be a 'halo' brand. The Challenger/Pursuit/Roadmasters are, I think, the benchmark for big v-twin tourers that actually go fast (relatively) and handle. The 'original' Scout was often referenced as the best bike of its day, and I think the current Scout and its variants are also the leaders in their sector - only the sector being sporty(ish) v-twins is a very small part of the motorcycle market these days. In the late 30s/early 40s the Indian Four was the Indian 'halo' bike - it would be nice to think that since they've re-made Scouts and Chiefs they'd make a Four. And due to heritage, I think a high-tech Indian Four would work, whereas I don't think a Harley four would make sense. And I can think of loads of other historic model names that could be resurrected - maybe a Prince as a 500cc single to rival Enfield, or a Papoose as a small electric scooter
Time will tell - could be good, or could be the end (again!).
/ramble
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