Polaris is shutting down its Victory Motorcycles subsidiary, it announced Monday.
The move means an end to production, and Polaris says it will “assist dealers in liquidating their existing inventories.” The parts supply won’t dry up anytime soon; Polaris says it will continue to supply spares for the next 10 years. Polaris will also honour its existing warranties.
Now, Polaris will focus their motorcycle business into the Indian brand, which it purchased in 2012.
You can read the Polaris press release below.
Polaris Industries to Wind Down Victory Motorcycles Operations Strengthening its Position in the Powersports Industry
Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE:PII) today announced it will immediately begin winding down its Victory Motorcycles brand and related operations. Polaris will assist dealers in liquidating existing inventories while continuing to supply parts for a period of 10 years, along with providing service and warranty coverage to Victory dealers and owners.
“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 only accounts for 3% of sales for Polaris. Victory is losing money. They just bought Transamerican Auto Parts for 750 million in the fall so they want to concentrate on making vehicle parts as more profit $$$. They did right for the investors, and really 3% customer disappointment (with $ losses of a failing brand) is no concern of theirs….other than to punt that business into the trash can.
It was obvious that it would come to that by producing two brands of cruiser, in my view they should have steered Victory toward a generalist brand when they acquired Indian. If there is an American company that could have succeed producing different kind of bikes it`s them.
Can only hope they won`t do the same with Aixam and sell it if it`s not profitable enough for them instead of simply shutting it down , i understand that selling Victory would not be a good idea.
http://ir.polaris.com/investors/news/news-details/2017/Polaris-Industries-to-Wind-Down-Victory-Motorcycles-Operations-Strengthening-its-Position-in-the-Powersports-Industry/default.aspx
liquidating liquidating liquidating liquidating liquidating liquidating liquidating liquidating liquidating
Nicer looking bikes than H.D. ever put out. By far.
Will they discontinue that ugly tree wheel car to ?
It’s all about branding and styling, I think Victory just missed the mark. Obviously they have more faith in the Indian name.
I was never a Victory fan, but I know a good bike when I ride one. The brand suffered from a lack of promotion, something the Indians don’t need as much.
I find it odd to keep the Indian brand, I would expect a time to pass when it isn’t appropriate.
I was thinking the same thing, when Cleveland was in the playoffs against Toronto some announcers refused to call their team by name.
Bikers are a different people than politically-correct media personalities. I hope that never changes.
#victorymotorcycles
It didn’t have to end like this
Jason Bowen this sucks, awesome bikes!!
Oh so typical of Polaris. The way they treat their customers and dealers – well this just is no surprise.
That’s too bad, what will happen to the Brammo electric bikes?
No word yet.
And I can’t get the Victory Octane outta my head,after sitting on one at the bike show!
You can still buy one as long as it’s in dealer inventory …
Just a shame they pulled the plug on an always interesting alternative brand..
Bad move
Look at that beauty!! They’ve actually been taking on a following especially by those that must absolutely by North American built equipment.
Ugly bikes
Absolutely make sense, when you own a nice brand like Indian why work to develop a competing brand for the same type of product.
However does this mean they will stick to customs only? I doubt that would be very smart, perhaps another deal is coming…
This is a loss for the Victory dealers who worked so hard to build the brand. They should use the Indian brand to peddle the V-twin bikes and use Victory to build bikes other then push-rod V-twins.
Yep. Guess we’ll never see a street version of that pikes peak racer either. That’s a damn shame.
That is what I thought would make sense for Polaris to do as well. I figured they would take the brand to a more Standard style / Sport Touring direction and take on Ducati et al. I could see the Judge going that way. Just stand those forks up a bit, shorten the wheelbase and raise the seat height and there ya go. Shame to see all that work come to naught.
For sure.