VOL. 55 ISSUE 39 OCTOBER 2, 2018 P95
S
teve Menneto, 52, is President of
Motorcycles at Polaris Industries
Inc., which recently joined the
Fortune 500 list of largest companies
in the United States for the first time at
number 496, just a few notches down
from Harley-Davidson at number 488.
The Milwaukee company's ranking has
plummeted from number 435 in the past
12 months, as its sales have slumped in
contrast to its resurgent Minnesota-based
rival, manufacturer of Indian motorcycles.
Menneto is the man who, together
with Polaris President/CEO Scott Wine,
ultimately sold his colleagues in Polaris
management the idea of acquiring Indian
in April 2011 as a heritage brand to run
alongside its much younger Victory
marque. Having succeeded in doing
so, Menneto was then entrusted with
the task of making it work, and return-
ing America's oldest existing motorcycle
company that built its first such machine
back in 1901. It's a task he and his team
at Polaris HQ in Medina, Minnesota,
have self-evidently discharged pretty
well, in developing a strong-selling array
of individually styled and distinctively
engineered models currently based on
two engine platforms. These comprise
the air-cooled OHV Thunder Stroke
111 c.i/1811cc 49º V-twin engine which
kicked off Indian sales in August 2014
with the Chief custom and Chieftain bag-
ger, and the liquid-cooled 69 c.i/1,133cc
Scout 60º V-twin eight-valve engine
which followed a year later, to provide a
less costly middleweight alternative from
the tomahawk tribe.
After shutting down its existing Vic-
tory two-wheeled brand in January last
year in order to focus entirely on Indian,
Polaris management, headed by Wine
and Menneto, have driven their sole
motorcycle brand forward with spectacu-
lar success—underlined by the imminent
launch at Germany's Intermot Show
in Cologne this week of the flat track-
inspired FTR1200 street bike.
I recently got the chance to sit down
with Menneto and chat about Indian's
past, present and future.
BY ALAN CATHCART • PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMES CALVERT
Indian Motorcycle President Steve Menneto talks
about the recent success of the brand
and its future
