Polaris closing Victory

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Mik

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Victory closing

Hardly a surprise... Not my cup of tea but I test rode quite a few of their bikes (2008 and 2009 line-ups) and they made a decent product. Guess they'll ride the Americana wave with Indian...
 
Interesting... makes sense to post it in the General and Off topic section, given that there's no motorcycle-specific section....
whistle.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Mik
Interesting... makes sense to post it in the General and Off topic section, given that there's no motorcycle-specific section....
whistle.gif



Yeah, where is all the heavy-handed moderating when you need it? Busy looking for rapscallions trying to bypass the censor I would guess
lol.gif


It's sad news to hear, even if it isn't exactly shocking. They came a long way with their products in their time.
 
Yup, writing has been on the wall about Victory for the last decade.

Its my one pet peeve about Indian and the high prices they command. Indians command Harley prices and higher. Yet Indian/Polaris has only been in business 5 or so years, with ZERO track record.
I think that is a lot of money to shell out for a bike, produced by a company that motorcycles are only 15% of their business (Polaris)
WIth Harley, motorcycles are all of their business and has been for 100 + years.

Click here,link from the other post.
 
I think they offered too many models and they never were able to capture that nostalgic $$ that Harley cashes in on. It's a shame, I think they were probably good motorcycles and I feel bad for anyone stuck with one, that just bought one. I almost bought one, but opted for a Triumph instead.
 
Polaris began canibalizing Victory for the benefit of Indian, and the brand was not strong enough to survive it. Also not selling both brands at the same dealers hurt big time.

Victory and Indian could have lived together in cooperation, had they been marketed correctly. I feel bad for any recent purchasers on having an orphan bike. Not only did their resale value take a nearly 66 percent hit right off the bat at this news, if they want to keep them long haul...they will eventually be stuck hunting for used parts. They just were not produced in large enough numbers to justify aftermarket support down the road unlike the older UJM bikes like the Honda SOHC 750 of the 60's and 70's.
 
well, it's not as though Polaris has been selling wicker baskets for the last 50+ years and decided to move into vehicles... Nor are they a small company on questionable financial footing (in fact, their diversity likely makes them a much safer bet than one-trick pony Harley). Now armed with a marketable flagship brand (ie. Indian) in the image-conscious cruiser market, I can't see them pulling the plug on Indian anytime soon. In fact, they are most certainly looking at increasing the % of revenues coming from bikes in the coming years. I suspect they will create some serious heartache around the board table in Milwaukee in the not-too-distant future.....
 
Victory made a nice bunch of bikes. a few of them have made it 200k miles. the market can always use competition. I kinda like the Indian Octane....
 
Originally Posted By: Mik
well, it's not as though Polaris has been selling wicker baskets for the last 50+ years and decided to move into vehicles... Nor are they a small company on questionable financial footing (in fact, their diversity likely makes them a much safer bet than one-trick pony Harley). Now armed with a marketable flagship brand (ie. Indian) in the image-conscious cruiser market, I can't see them pulling the plug on Indian anytime soon. In fact, they are most certainly looking at increasing the % of revenues coming from bikes in the coming years. I suspect they will create some serious heartache around the board table in Milwaukee in the not-too-distant future.....


Polaris knows ATV's, Personal watercraft, snowmobiles, and UTV's.... I would never buy a Polaris motorcycle. I think the newer models are ugly as sin and have way to much plastic on them, enough of a reason for me to not buy one. The older models were much better looking machines but I know some people that owned them and had many different issues with them. I have heard that Polaris is the worst of the belt driven machines but I have never owned one so I cannot speak from personal experience.

If the Polaris cost as much as a Honda, Yamaha etc, they would be out of business. Lets face it, Polaris is on the cheap end both technically and quality wise. Personally, I don't want to tinker with my machines, I want reliability above all. Performance?, you don't need a rice rocket for hunting, so I don't care who has the biggest and baddest engine.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
Polaris began canibalizing Victory for the benefit of Indian, and the brand was not strong enough to survive it. Also not selling both brands at the same dealers hurt big time.

...


The problem has always been Polaris never had any profits from their Victory venture, almost 20 years, always hopes and dreams but they never made money for the company. Yes, yes, I know, you will find a year or two that they had a profit, but in corporate terms, Victory was always on Polaris chopping block as a failure, writing has been on corporate wall a long time.
 
Originally Posted By: MoreCowbellAz
I wonder if they'll be having any bargains. I wouldn't mind picking one up on the cheap,

Yup, you will be, just like any going out of business sale, timing is everything to pick one up at a steal if you want.
 
Originally Posted By: Mik
FWIW, Polaris haven't produced watercraft for quite some time now...


Correct, jetskis were another Polaris failure, though they did sell that one off I believe and yes, you can still buy after market parts from all over the internet.

Polaris is a corporation that has many products, they buy, sell, trade do whatever they can to make a buck.
Heck, unlike Honda or Yamaha etc, they cant even put their own name Polaris on a bike because it will fail *L*
Maybe after the jetski fail they stopped branding with Polaris name, then again, their snowmobiles still have polaris as well as their ATVs, they sold off their generator business some time ago too, they still make army vehicles ya da ya da.

Just having fun with this post, dont get crazy ... I feel for those who bought Victory, I almost did myself back in 2011 or 2012. Im sooo glad I didnt, the model CrossRoads was cancelled that year.

Fast forward to today, I just cant imagine buying an Indian for the same price or more as a Harley, with an unproven track record by a corporation that has only produced the bike for 5 years.

Sure Indian sales have grown, but for some buyers of Indian, they think that Indian is the company/brand or at least think that its a huge part of Polaris business, when as of right now, it is still less then 15%.

85% of Polaris business are things other then motorcycles and Can Am's ... Indian is just a name, Polaris is the brand.
I am grateful, competition is good for the consumer, even for me, the right product at the right price you never know... just be careful or you can get burned..and again, at a premium price point.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: alarmguy
Originally Posted By: MoreCowbellAz
I wonder if they'll be having any bargains. I wouldn't mind picking one up on the cheap,

Yup, you will be, just like any going out of business sale, timing is everything to pick one up at a steal if you want.


Just don't plan on keeping it for longer than 10 years, cause that is when the parts support will end and then you will have an orphan bike and will be left scrounging for NOS or used parts on the internet.
 
I feel it's getting harder and harder to pick a winner these days. You go to a motorcycle dealer to get a bike but can't know, depend or tell if what your buying will be in production for any given length of time. Resale is a consideration if you plan on upgrading in a few years. When a bike is dropped from production it pretty much kills resale. Bikes that don't sell when new, are harder to sell used. So to move it you have to drop the price so low, it won't help with a new purchase.Plus aftermarket support becomes non- exsistant. All mfgrs have seen had happen, so no brand is immune from it. Just disappointing when your dream bike turns into a nightmare.,,,
 
[/quote]

Just don't plan on keeping it for longer than 10 years, cause that is when the parts support will end and then you will have an orphan bike and will be left scrounging for NOS or used parts on the internet. [/quote]

I wouldn't worry about that too much. That's ten years down the road and a lot of miles.

I just ordered a brand new engine gasket set for a 1973 Suzuki TS-185.
 
Originally Posted By: Robenstein
Originally Posted By: alarmguy
Originally Posted By: MoreCowbellAz
I wonder if they'll be having any bargains. I wouldn't mind picking one up on the cheap,

Yup, you will be, just like any going out of business sale, timing is everything to pick one up at a steal if you want.


Just don't plan on keeping it for longer than 10 years, cause that is when the parts support will end and then you will have an orphan bike and will be left scrounging for NOS or used parts on the internet.


Yeah that's the issue, and depends on the price. If it's discounted enough that it offsets some of the hit I'd take on resale I could be willing to do it, have some fun on it, and either keep it around for the heck of it or just unload it one day and chalk it up for the price of some fun. Idk why but I've always been intrigued by Victory for some reason. I think I just like motorcycles too much, definitely far beyond the "need" zone and into "want" zone.
 
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