Polaris Pulls the Plug on Victory Motorcycles

Earlier this month, Polaris Industries made the unfortunate, if not completely surprising announcement, that effective immediately, it would begin “winding down” all operations of the Victory Motorcycles brand.

Originally started in the late ‘90s to compete in the lucrative cruiser market against perennial juggernaut Harley-Davidson, Victory became a staple of the American muscle cruiser scene by producing a wide range of critically-acclaimed and unique motorcycles.

There were several reasons for showing Victory the door, the most prominent of which is the continued success of the revived Indian Motorcycles brand. Polaris purchased Indian in 2011, and having two motorcycle brands that dip into nearly the same customer pool had created redundancy in Polaris’s product portfolio.

Polaris did try and reposition Victory as its “American muscle” brand, while keeping Indian true to its storied heritage cruiser roots, but the overlap and steadily declining profitability of Victory only served to force Polaris’s hand.

"This was an incredibly difficult decision for me, my team, and the Polaris Board of Directors," commented Polaris 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."

Fortunately, current Victory owners and dealers won’t be left out in the cold. Polaris has promised that it will still provide service for existing bikes and will continue to honor warranties for the next 10 years.

Victory’s first motorcycle was the handsome V92C cruiser that began hitting dealer showrooms in 1998. Over the years, Victory became known for producing reliable and visually distinct V-twin hotrods and cruisers like the Vegas, Hammer, and Kingpin. The company also moved into the touring market with the Victory Vision, a well-received top-of-the-line touring bike.

One of Victory’s most interesting offering was the Empulse TT. Previously produced by Brammo (another subsidiary of Polaris), the Empulse is sport-oriented 100% electric motorcycle that cranks out 54 horsepower and 61 lb-ft of torque and can top 100 miles per hour. One of the bike’s signature elements is the ability to fully charge its batteries in under four hours.

Founded in 1901, the Indian brand is the oldest (just not the longest continually operating) motorcycle brand in America. Produced in Springfield, Massachusetts until 1953, Indian saw a slew of ownership changes and attempts to resuscitate the brand, the most recent of which was spearheaded by a foreign private equity firm from 2006 to 2011 before the acquisition by Polaris. Since then, Polaris has continued pouring resources into Indian’s coffers and the results speak for themselves – Indian now offers nine different models and Polaris has promised that lineup will continue to expand.

The one silver lining from the demise of Victory is that the experience and infrastructure that was created won’t be going to waste. Polaris has promised to commit those lessons and resources to improving Indian Motorcycles, which, in the end, is a victory for all of us.

We as a company will be fully supporting our customer base, as their preferred dealer with anything Parts, Warranty or Service related. If you need some further details, just let us know!