Indian embraces Victory
Legendary American motorcycle maker Indian is about to make a big comeback, and this is the first official image of its new design directionWhen American power sports company Polaris took over the Indian motorcycle brand in April 2011, it was confident of bringing a fresh new appeal to the brand, but without diluting the historic brand's heritage.
Well, what you see here is our first glimpse at a possible new model from the American motorcycle company, which is now based out of Iowa, sharing space with sister brand, Victory.
Polaris also owns Victory motorcycles and by leveraging its existing manufacturing assets the company should be able to begin delivering new Indians within a relatively short time frame. It's not yet known when the new models will arrive, but it's possible we'll see a concept in the flesh at the Milan motorcycle expo in November.
The new Indian models will be pitched at riders who may be considering a Harley-Davidson and will most likely be powered by modified Victory V-twin engines, but this raises another question: will the new Indian models cannibalise sales from Victory?
Polaris will need to ensure there's plenty of differentiation between its two brands to avoid overlap.
As one of America's oldest motorcycle brands, setting up shop in 1901, Indian will give Polaris a new way to entice riders away from Harley-Davidson but the danger is that Victory customers could also see the Indian brand as more appealing. As such, we can expect Victory models to take on a more modern design (and technology) ethos, while Indian will keep things a little more conservative.
When we last spoke to Victory Australia's sales and marketing manager, Peter Harvey, he said: "There’s still a reasonable amount of Indian stock (across eight models) which will continue to be sold while Victory begins production of its own Indian, which will remain true to the bike’s heritage.
"And we expect to be selling Indian in Australia some time in the future although it’s difficult to put a time line on it at this particular stage."
This leaked image of a new generation Indian cruiser provides a new clue as to how the brand will handle its revival, and with the backing of Polaris, which is a very profitable company, Indian will now have a more powerful marketing punch behind it.
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