Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/801507
INTERVIEW PRESIDENT OF MOTORCYCLES AT POLARIS INDUSTRIES INC., STEVE MENNETO P124 Following on from that, the FTR750 flat track motor is the smallest capacity Indian en- gine yet. While it's starting out powering a competition motor- cycle, do you plan to develop a street range based on that? I think that's a platform where we can see a lot of opportunity in it, and we have some great plans to use it in bringing different types of bikes to the market for Indian. So not just a flat track rep- lica, but to use that engine for other different models? Well, that 750 is a race engine only, but there's other opportuni- ties for us to develop new prod- ucts based on what we learn in building smaller engines. We can see opportunities in other model sectors as we move down the capacity scale, where Indian will decisions that we made around Victory, and how it limited where we could go with Indian, and vice versa on occasion—Indian prevented where we could go with Victory, in some cases. Well, as we look at it now we have the opportunity to take Indian drag racing, to do Pikes Peak, to go to the Isle of Man and to continue to expand our competition activities with what is now our single brand. We shouldn't forget just how central race success has always been to Indian's appeal to the cus- tomer. As we start our flat-track campaign, you've seen the quality of the bike and the quality of the team, and as we move forward you'll see us continue to evolve the competition side of our brand with great bikes and great riders. Indian will be very competitive as now that you only have the heritage brand to focus on, do you believe you'll be able to attract younger customer to Indian more readily with a broader range of products? I do, I think that the richness of the Indian brand heritage, the innovation of the brand and what it speaks to in terms of product will help us achieve that—and you're right to identify that as a crucial aspect of our plans going for- ward. A lot of the feedback we've got over the past three years from younger riders—especially after we launched our Scout product— is that there's already an appetite and a desire for them to be a part of the Indian Motorcycle family. I think with our decision to focus on this one brand, we have an op- portunity to expand Indian consid- As we start our flat-track campaign, you've seen the quality of the bike and the quality of the team, and as we move forward you'll see us continue to evolve the competition side of our brand… be indeed a player in the future. Victory was previously in- volved in competition, includ- ing Pikes Peak, the Isle of Man TT Zero electric bike race, and of course NHRA drag racing. Indian is about to start out now with flat track racing, but do you see Indian taking part with any of Victory's former competition activities? This has resolved some is- sues we had with some of the we enter those different sporting arenas, but only with the highest level of equipment and personnel. Do you feel that in cleaning up your motorcycle business by focusing entirely on the Indian brand in future, this will make it easier for you to mar- ket Indian to a broader range of customers? Victory was supposed to be the younger enthusiast product, and Indian the more traditionalist. Well, erably in terms of the brand story, the innovation and where we want to take it. You'll see our product range expanding in terms of more modern offerings in different seg- ments, plus with our going racing competitively with Indian, I think we'll have a brand image that will appeal to a broader spectrum of customers. I think we have a very bright future ahead now we can focus exclusively on Indian. CN