INTERVIEW
PRESIDENT OF MOTORCYCLES AT POLARIS INDUSTRIES INC., STEVE MENNETO
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development experience we
needed to do so, and we expect
that experience to be a gift that
keeps on giving for some years to
come. We increased the size of
our motorcycle business tenfold
from 2009 to 2016, and we're just
getting started!
Will any of Victory's exist-
ing or future models that are
nearly ready for launch be
rebadged as Indians?
That's the most common ques-
tion I get asked by customers,
and the answer is no, because
we must maintain the authentic-
ity of the Indian brand. Some
people ask, why can't you take the
Victory Vegas or the Gunner and
don't change anything, except
just remove the Victory badge
and put Indian on it instead? Well,
we shan't do that because I think
it would dilute the Indian brand.
What we want to accomplish with
Indian is different than what we
achieved with Victory. Okay, lots
of Victorys have longer frames for
bigger people, and Victory also
had more modern styling than
Indian presently has. So over the
next two to five years you're going
to start seeing Indian models ap-
pear that will have some of those
Victory characteristics in them,
but will have still been developed
all-new from the ground up. We
won't get into rebadging anything,
but in going forward we'll be using
the know-how and styling cues
derived from Victory in producing
new Indian models.
"We can get better
returns for our
stakeholders—and
our dealers, too—
by focusing on the
excellent business that
Indian Motorcycle
represents for us."
The FTR750 flat-tracker has returned
Indian to competition; the first of many
racing activities Indian will pursue
post-Victory, but only with top level
teams and riders.
