Earlier this week Polaris Industries announced that the company has purchased the rights to produce Indian motorcycles and intends to shortly resurrect the 110-year-old marque.
Polaris bought the name and logo from Indian Motorcycle Limited, the latest entrepreneurs who attempted to revive the brand. IML had owned the Indian production rights since 2006. Polaris CEO Scott Wine stated in the company’s press release, “With our technology and vision, we are confident we will deliver the classic Indian motorcycle, enhanced by the quality and performance for which Polaris and Victory are known.”
No word yet on what Polaris will build to deliver a classic Indian; however, we are pretty sure they won’t be carting an aftermarket frame, six-speed and S&S V-Twin over to Paul Senior’s for an episode and a $60,000 price tag. Polaris is already in the heavyweight cruiser market with their Victory bikes, and it is unclear whether they will produce a secondary Chief model to supplement the Victory line or branch Indian out into their own entity and maybe revive the Scout, Chief, Prince and Arrow model names. You probably won’t see singles, inline-fours, Papoose or board-track racers but maybe a Clymer-style dirt bike would be a neat plaything. With collaboration from the likes of Arlen Ness, who has been on board sculpting the Victory Visions for several years, you never know. At least Indian production will remain in the United States, where it belongs, and shame on Harley-Davidson for missing out on this opportunity. No doubt the go-no-go they experienced with MV Agusta recently and the state of the economy made them a little head-shy?