INTERVIEW
P82
INDIAN MOTORCYCLE'S STEVE MENNETO
and how much did you pay for
it?
April 2011, but we don't disclose dollar numbers.
To put this in perspective,
though, how many Victory
motorcycles have been made
since the brand was founded
in 1998?
Over 100,000 motorcycles.
And how many were made
in 2012?
Sorry, we don't share annual
volumes.
To what extent does Polaris
regard the heritage of Indian
as a key factor in acquiring the
brand?
It's a huge factor, and if you
really look at it, Indian really fits
the Polaris brand, and the Polaris heritage. Look at the folks
who started Polaris back in 1954
- three guys who invented the
snowmobile, using a lot of innovation, and a constant quest
for improvement. That's pretty
much how Hendee and Hedström started out in Springfield
with Indian back in 1901, in creating America's oldest motorcycle
manufacturer. So we saw a lot of
similarities in Indian's heritage,
about how it was cutting edge
technically in its day, and so it
really fits with what we aim to do
here at Polaris.
But do you believe that In-
dian still has any cultural momentum in the 21st century?
Hasn't the fact that the last
two attempts to make it work
as a brand both failed and put
a hex on it in the minds of the
public? Don't you think the
market sees Indian as a failure?
There are going to be those
who say that it's a failure, but the
majority of folks are going to love
it, because of the fact that it's an
American comeback story. We
Americans love a comeback, and
I think you could argue that the
last couple of tries were a case
of two entrepreneurs, an American and a Brit, making a good at-
