Polaris Bought Indian Motorcycle

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tyeeman

New member
Just heard on the radidio this morning that Polaris Industries purchased Indian Motorcycle. For some reason it struck me as kinda strange. I mean Indian (to my very limited knowledge) has no state of the art 4-stroke technology or direct injection technology or any thing like that that Polaris could implement into other product lines.
Is Polaris leaning toward wheeled vehicles rather than tracked vehicles?
 
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elf

Well-known member
Tracked vehicles (snowmobiles) are a pretty small portion of Polaris's business. I believe it's less than 25% of their sales come from sleds. Indian Motorcycles as a complement to Victory motorcycles is a good idea for them. And I'm guessing it wasn't a very expensive aquisition for them.

Apparently the market agrees with them. Have you seen their stock today? They just announced first qtr #'s and stock is up $17/share right now at $108/share. Nice gain from 2 yrs ago when it was at $14/share.
 
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dcsnomo

Moderator
Indian is a great brand name, which is important in a market where brand name is such a key attribute to the consumer.

Polaris also announced they will be keeping 50 jobs in the Osceola engine plant, which was slated to close. This is due to greater than expected sales requiring additional capacity.
 
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tyeeman

New member
Sheesh, I should be buying Polaris stock! Yeah I guess I kinda knew that sleds were a pretty small part of Polaris over all sales. Like I say, , just struck me as kind of odd. Good for Polaris though.

I thought the Osceola plant was already purchased by a metal stamping company or something like that?

Still pi$$ed at Polaris for taking business south of the border.
 
favoritos

favoritos

Well-known member
dcsnomo said:
Indian is a great brand name, which is important in a market where brand name is such a key attribute to the consumer.

Polaris also announced they will be keeping 50 jobs in the Osceola engine plant, which was slated to close. This is due to greater than expected sales requiring additional capacity.
Click to expand...

That is awesome news. Nice to hear good news.
 
oldguy

oldguy

Member
Look for Polaris to have 2 distinct bikes lines going forward. The higher tech bikes will stay Victory and the more classic bike lineup will become Indians. I think they are looking to convert a few Harley guys to the Indian lineup.
 
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Hoosier

Well-known member
Provided they didn't overpay, I don't see how this would be a negative for Polaris snowmobiles. The more diverse they are, the better, in my mind. Snowmobile manufacturing has to be a tough business these days, so impacted by the economy, gas prices, environmentalists, EPA, etc., not to mention the seasonality that has always been there.
 
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Banks93

New member
I thought Polaris bought Indian Motorcycles because of Indy500. Wait until he starts telling people the Indian motorcycles are better than HD.
 
srt20

srt20

Active member
Wait til Polaris designs a new and improved "PRO-RIDE" rear suspension for the Indian bikes......


Nah just kidding, if Indian bikes are not FI yet and Polaris makes them EFI, they will all start blowing up.....

Or maybe Poo wanted something super heavy with terrible handling to compete with Yamaha sleds.....

Ok Im done talking smack....
 
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tyeeman

New member
Before I heard they bought Indian, I guess deep down I was hoping they would come out with a new awesome 4-stroke, or an even better 2-stroke for sleds, , wheather it be by acquiring existing technology like Doo did with OMC or what ever. Don't get me wrong, I really like my 600 clean fire in my touring sled but, as previously mentioned the epa will soon come knocking demanding an even cleaner 2-stroke, then what are they going to do?
 
indy_500

indy_500

Well-known member
Banks93 said:
As many times as Indy500 and SRT20 have to work on there two smokes. Once is too many times.
Click to expand...

Still wanna go professional trail racing? You'd be so far behind in the twisties it wouldn't even be funny! :p If only polaris could make their sleds 200 lbs heaver ;)
 
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