Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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INTERVIEW POLARIS' VICE PRESIDENT OF MOTORCYCLES STEVE MENNETO P86 Are we likely to see those pro- ducing motorcycles in future, if you have a problem with Spirit Lake's labor pool? No, not Indian-branded mo- torcycles, nor Victory-branded motorcycles, either. Our ORV (off-road vehicle) business is growing tremendously alongside motorcycles. So Huntsville is totally ORV and so is Opole in Poland, because the growth of that business has been absolute- ly tremendous for both side-by- sides and ATVs. But as we look to expand production around the world, one of the things we want to make clear is that this is only to support our global ORV business that's growing so fast, not to build Victory or Indian motorcycles. It's like when we went to [open a plant in] Monterrey, Mexico, and the first question everyone asked was, "So you're going to make Indians and Victorys in Mexico, right?" No! Part of the value of the Indian and Victory brands is that they're manufac- tured in America, and Spirit Lake is our center of excellence for motorcycles. We have capacity to go bigger there, so before we go to another plant we'll expand to the maximum there. The new paint system entailed building a two-story, 111,000 square-foot addition that represents over $30 million in terms of investment. So our commitment to making great motorcycles is there in spades, and we're putting our money where our mouth is. Presumably Spirit Lake will soon have a fourth production line added, because you pur- chased Brammo in January this year, which was Ameri- ca's second largest electric motorcycle manufacturer until they suspended production last year. I understand you're moving their plant from Or- egon to Spirit Lake. When will that happen? That'll be in the fall of this year. We made an investment in Bram- mo in 2011, but the company didn't flourish, and it was evident it needed Polaris' management to make it work properly. Brammo will allow us to explore the oppor- tunities in an electric powertrain for motorcycles, and we think it's going to be an important area as we go forward. Volume-wise it's not so big right now, but where we want to go with it in the Victory line is that we want it to be more performance focused. It's not about basic transportation from A to B with an electric motor- "WHEN YOU LOOK AT OUR ISLE OF MAN EFFORTS, AT OUR NHRA EFFORTS, THEN AT OUR PROJECT 156 EFFORT, I THINK YOU'RE SEEING WHERE VICTORY IS GOING AS A PERFORMANCE MOTORCYCLE BRAND, AND HOW IT'S STARTING TO BREAK AWAY FROM WHAT IT USED TO BE." Victory also raced in the Isle of Man TT Zero class and earned a podium with Lee Johnston (3).