PASSION AND BUSINESS
UP FRONT
EDITOR'S LETTER
VICTORY MOTORCYCLES RIDES INTO ITS SUNSET
Mixing passion and business can be tough. Or rather, it is important in motorcycling to have passion, but it can’t inform every business decision. Unfortunately.
Particularly in the case of Victory, which Polaris Industries announced it would be “winding down” over the next 18 months.
From the January press release: “This was an incredibly difficult decision for me, my team and the Polaris Board of Directors,” said Polaris Industries Chairman and CEO Scott Wine. “Over the past 18 years, we have 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. Since inception, our teams have designed and produced nearly 60 Victory models that have been honored with 25 of the industry’s top awards. The experience, knowledge, infrastructure, and capability we’ve built in those 18 years gave us the confidence to acquire and develop the Indian Motorcycle brand, so I would like to express my gratitude to everyone associated with Victory Motorcycles and celebrate your many contributions.”
Victory is indeed the very reason that Polaris was able to make Indian Motorcycle what it is today. Every element of design, engineering, and marketing was honed by the challenge of building a V-twin cruiser motorcycle from scratch and building a brand from nothing over the past 18 years. That challenge established the expertise that was the foundation for Indian.
But it’s hard to argue with the business decision. Consider that in Indian’s first year on the market, motorcycle sales doubled for Polaris. That is, a strong existing brand, coupled with Polaris’ design and engineering knowledge, was able to build a line of just a few models that eclipsed Victory’s previous 16 years of efforts to grow sales. To quote the company statement: “Victory has struggled to establish the market share needed to suc-
ceed and be profitable.” Add tothis an overall struggling motorcycle market with stagnating new-unit sales and consolidating and focusing on the brand that yields the greater payback on investment makes sense.
Consider also the state of Victory, which is still using the fundamental architecture of the first engine the company designed. To move the Victory brand forward would have required the huge investment in an all-new powertrain, both to meet forthcoming Euro 4 and 5 emissions regulations as well as to further differentiate Victory from Indian.
So at some point the company had to consider its level of investment in the brand, the state of the market, and what it would take to forge a new path. Passion can maybe be in the room when you’re considering these things, but the bottom line is that motorcycle makers make motorcycles so we will buy them. And we, as a whole market, weren’t buying that many Victorys.
The “winding down” process means the Victory NHRA drag-racing program will continue through 2017, and the company will support dealers in selling remaining inventory through the next 18 months as well as supporting owners with parts and service for the next 10 years.
Victory took many significant product risks, starting with that first production V92C built on the Fourth of July in 1998. Models like the V92SC Sport Cruiser, the Vision tourer, the Vegas (credited at the time for “saving” Victory), Cross Country, and all the way up to Project 156, showed a massive amount of spirit and expertise as the brand learned from its early mistakes and built ever-improving motorcycles.
That spirit will live on in Indian, and our market today is better for the nearly 20 years that Victory Motorcycles will have come from Spirit Lake, Iowa, factory.
MARK HOYER
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
THIS MONTH’S STATS
two GROMS THAT SURVIVED ROOSTING ALABAMA HILLS
2 EDITORS WHO WERE SORE AFTER ROOSTING ALABAMA HILLS ON GROMS
135,000 TOTAL NUMBER OF VICTORYS BUILT SINCE 1998
