Indian drums up dealer network
Report: Bertie Simmonds It is 15 years since the first Victory motorcycles landed in the UK from America. Now a new invasion is being planned. The Indians are coming. Indian Motorcycle is masterminding a worldwide launch of new models all bearing the iconic name and – unlike some revivals – this is backed by the manufacturing might of Polaris Industries, parent of Victory. The arrival of Victory Motorcycles was
viewed with some suspicion until the first model, the V92C, was launched here on 4 July 1998 and the background to Polaris was revealed. Polaris (established 1954) is arguably the company that invented the snowmobile. Today Polaris, a $3bn manufacturing company, is number one in the North American continent (USA and Canada) and Europe for all-terrain vehicles. Polaris purchased the rights to the
Indian Motorcycle name in 2011 and the scene is now set for an exciting re-birth of a historic motorcycle brand. Three key personnel are tasked with making Indian a sales success in the UK in 2013 – sales and marketing manager Lee Frankish, Victory and Indian sales and product manager Mike Pedler, and country manager Phil Everett.
Why should UK dealers be excited by the imminent arrival of Indian Motorcycle into the UK? Lee Frankish: This has the backing of a company that is in great shape in terms of share price and cash reserves. We’re confident we can do a good job with it. I think people out there are smart enough to look at what we’ve done with Victory.
How will Indian Motorcycle work alongside Victory Motorcycles? LF: I see it working like Vespa does alongside Piaggio. At a recent show I saw that Piaggio was thoroughly modern and up-to-date, while Vespa had pastel colours and tradition.
In a similar way Victory is a modern take on the cruiser scene, while Indian will give us a more heritage-based brand. I think the new Victory logo, which did away with the wing, gives us a fresh, more modern look, paving the way for the introduction of the legendary Indian logo.
Can you reveal what the Indian launch line-up will consist of? Mike Pedler: Not just yet! This will be a global launch that needs to be very carefully synchronised around the world. We can say that we will start off small and then the range will grow. Adding to what Lee said, I think initially
perhaps Victory tried to chase Harley- Davidson which was the wrong thing to do. With our current Victory range such as the Hammer S and Judge, these bikes are more performance-based with a more European riding position. We see Victory and Indian as quite far
apart in brand terms. With Indian we can aim for the heritage market, though it will be challenging for us to meet expectations. These two brands will not overlap, but rather complement each other perfectly. Indian has great potential. We did a small teaser at Intermot to gauge public expectation and one of the questions most asked was: “Is it going to have a Victory engine?” The principal reason to do the tease was also to solicit UK dealers. LF: We were also at the MCN London Show to tease the Indian brand and get interest from dealers. We can’t yet say what bikes or how many, or what the engine size will be. MP: From a slow product start, this will be a long-range product plan. A small number of models is the key to success and from there
a steady trickle to keep things going. Remember, this will be an all-new engine, all-new chassis and all-new from the ground up! Until we know the bike range and prices we can’t say anything about volumes for the UK, but as the year goes on we will know more.
Will Indians be built on the same production lines as Victory motorcycles? Phil Everett: We’ve been told that Indian motorcycles will be built at the same location as Victory motorcycles, but in a brand-new manufacturing facility, so they will be in separate factories. There is no official launch date in the UK
yet. It’s a moving target from the US as to when product is going to be launched. All we are hearing is that it is this year, so we have to be ready!
How important to Victory and Polaris is the UK market for Indian Motorcycle? MP: I think I’m right in saying that the UK is the longest established Victory business apart from Canada and America. The UK is very important to Polaris, as are Germany and France. LF: EP Barrus were the first UK importers of Victory Motorcycles into the UK until the Polaris-owned subsidiary was set up 11 years ago. A number of people have stayed with Victory from those first days. PE: Indian has history with the UK too, don’t forget. Around 100 years ago they came over here to win Isle of Man TT races and took a clean sweep of the podium in 1911.
How many dealers are you looking for in the UK? LF: We are not saying you have to be a stand-alone Victory or Indian dealer. Our preferred choice is for dealers to have both brands because they complement each other. One is modern, one is traditional. But we fully understand that some of
our 17 Victory dealers may not be able to make that journey with us for one reason or another. Perhaps they may not have the available floor space, and so on. We want good coverage over the UK and
are keen to talk to any dealers interested in the Indian Motorcycle brand. That’s why our first press contact was with BDN. I’ve knocked on a lot of doors over the
last year and we know we need to pick our dealers carefully. They need to be ready to move quickly when the plans are announced. Dealers will be looking for plans and financials and at the moment we have only a ‘potential’ for future business and growth. But I would advise them to look back at Victory and what’s been accomplished over the last 15 years. With that in mind I hope dealers will realise we are here for the long haul. I think our target would be 16-20 Indian dealers by the end of 2013. We need good coverage so the consumer
Indian chiefs, from left: Country manager Phil Everett, sales and marketing manager Lee Frankish, and Victory and Indian sales and product manager Mike Pedler.
8 MARCH 2013
doesn’t need to travel silly distances. and a strong platform to handle the phenomenal potential of Indian Motorcycle.
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