Originally Posted By: alarmguy
We also have the Polaris brand in the USA, Indian and Victory but despite the love affair the press has had with them, they are still a very small segment of the market, tops 5%.
Indian seems to be onto something but Victory is still having an identification crisis. It seems they may be moving more towards the sport segment. This is fact, both brands have been told by Polaris board of directors to get their act together and start showing profits or else.
By heavy weights, we are talking 1700 cc class, not 1300 or 1400.
Back to Harley, no matter the talk, in the USA, its still king of the heavy weights, in fact, in sales it sells over 50% of ALL motorcycles in the USA over 601cc's then ALL other makers combined. Other companies have been struggling to compete and be profitable in the HEAVY weight segment.
So ends today ... ummm ... whatever but anyone can verify what I typed. I am in NO way taking any sides, I like ALL bikes but there seems to be so much [censored] out there, thought I would type my thoughts...
) I do not think Japan rules the market, not in the USA. They build some great bikes and wow, at great prices too, but in that segment there is also some respectable competition from Germany and Italy and also very good bikes.
The good news is, in the USA, we can buy whatever bike that floats our boat, their all good, its about the ride, pride of ownership, not one brand over the other.
Don't know where you are getting your info, but victory was profitable year 1. And has been ever since. Indian was profitable year 2 and has been since. Polaris knows how to make money on a smaller scale of production. Their motorcycle division had a 154% growth 3rd quarter 2015 over 3rd quarter 2014. And record first quarter as well. Both brands are doing extremely well.