Polaris Victory Motorcycles announcement

    MINNEAPOLIS (January 9, 2017) — Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE: PII) today announced it will immediately begin winding down its Victory Motorcycles brand and related operations. Polaris will assist dealers in liquidating existing inventories while continuing to supply parts for a period of 10 years, along with providing service and warranty coverage to Victory dealers and owners. Today’s announcement does not affect any other Polaris business units.

    “This was an incredibly difficult decision for me, my team and the Polaris Board of Directors,” said Polaris Industries Chairman and CEO Scott Wine. “Over the past 18 years, we have invested not only resources, but our hearts and souls, into forging the Victory Motorcycles brand, and we are exceptionally proud of what our team has accomplished. Since inception, our teams have designed and produced nearly 60 Victory models that have been honored with 25 of the industry’s top awards. The experience, knowledge, infrastructure and capability we’ve built in those 18 years gave us the confidence to acquire and develop the Indian Motorcycle brand, so I would like to express my gratitude to everyone associated with Victory Motorcycles and celebrate your many contributions.”

    Several factors influenced today’s announcement. Victory has struggled to establish the market share needed to succeed and be profitable. The competitive pressures of a challenging motorcycle market have increased the headwinds for the brand. Given the significant additional investments required for Victory to launch new global platforms that meet changing consumer preferences, and considering the strong performance and growth potential of Indian Motorcycle, the decision to more narrowly focus Polaris’ energy and investments became quite clear.

    “This decision will improve the profitability of Polaris and our global motorcycle business, and will materially improve our competitive stance in the industry,” said Scott Wine. “Our focus is on profitable growth, and in an environment of finite resources, this move allows us to optimize and align our resources behind both our premium, high performing Indian Motorcycle brand and our innovative Slingshot brand, enhancing our focus on accelerating the success of those brands. Ultimately this decision will propel the industry-leading product innovation that is core to our strategy while fostering long-term growth and increased shareholder value.”

    Polaris will reduce the appropriate operating cost based on this decision, while continuing to support the future growth of the ongoing motorcycle business. Polaris remains committed to maintaining its presence in the Spirit Lake, Iowa community with Indian Motorcycle production and in the Huntsville, Alabama community with its Slingshot production.

    Any one-time costs associated with supporting Victory dealers in selling their remaining inventory, the disposal of factory inventory, tooling, and other physical assets, and the cancellation of various supplier arrangements will be recorded in the 2017 income statement in respective sales, gross profit and operation expense. These costs will be excluded from Polaris’ provided 2017 sales and earnings guidance on a non-GAAP basis

    Wow. I am surprised actually. The Victory line is well thought out, and competitive with Harley on features/performance. Honestly, I have a friend that has one, and in stock form will run pretty well neck and neck with my hopped up Harley. I have stayed with my Road King as it meets all the 2 wheeled needs I have. Since getting the Slingshot in late May of '16, it has gotten the use 10 times the rides on two wheels.


    Very glad Polaris is focusing on the Slingshot still. I know there have been issues with the Slingshots, but I'm into them for the long haul personally.

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    Unfortunately this has been in the works for some time ....


    My dealer (one of the oldest Victory dealers) changed his website to minimize Victory over a month ago and has restructured so his dealership name no longer reflects the Victory brand ...


    With his main focus having been Victory for a looong time, only having Motus as a secondary MC line, and there already being an Indian dealer in town, hopefully his Polaris products can keep his doors open .... its going to be tough ....


    .

    :REDSS: The ghost of SLingshot past ......

    Quote from Orangeman

    With his main focus having been Victory for a looong time, only having Motus as a secondary MC line, and there already being an Indian dealer in town, hopefully his Polaris products can keep his doors open .... its going to be tough ....

    My dealer is Victory & Polaris ATVs & Slingshots. He has had a HUGE Victory business- there is an Indian dealership within 3/4 mile. Has had plans to expand, adding multiple service bays, and has been going thru the arduous permit process...... Not sure what he will do now..... :(

    I am worried this has major implications on the Slingshot brand. If they decided on a whim that Victory wasn't worth their effort because of lackluster sales, and so they can focus on their powersports brands, as they say, I feel that means street products aren't going to get as much favorability going forward.


    Slingshot was a breakout hit and is a well-loved machine, but it has since cooled a bit since the launch. If they find it gets to be too much of a problem for them to keep any longer, we could be facing the extinction of this brand too I fear.

    Victory was a helluva fine bike (I rode a 2011 Cross Country), but they made some insane decisions starting around 2012 or so... First, they began releasing "customized/chopped" versions of their bikes, then the "Boardwalk" was a dismal flop, then they yanked the Kingpin and Visions, then suddenly their version of a new model release was to bring out yet another Cross Country with a different wheel, rake,or paint... Suddenly the Victory lineup consisted of a half dozen different models of the same bike, the Cross Country.


    So now they want to drop the edgy bikes that were so popular that they ALLOWED them to buy Indian, Motul, create Slingshot, etc. The only things that should have been dropped, were the designers, engineers, and VP's that have obviously made some very piss poor decisions along the way.


    Meanwhile our Slingshots continue sitting, awaiting new recall parts, again!

    Quote from Kip

    I am worried this has major implications on the Slingshot brand. If they decided on a whim that Victory wasn't worth their effort because of lackluster sales, and so they can focus on their powersports brands, as they say, I feel that means street products aren't going to get as much favorability going forward.


    Slingshot was a breakout hit and is a well-loved machine, but it has since cooled a bit since the launch. If they find it gets to be too much of a problem for them to keep any longer, we could be facing the extinction of this brand too I fear.

    I thought of this too, and yeah, it could happen, but I thought of two things:


    - they've come out and said they're planning on a new motor (made by Polaris) to go in the Sling starting in a couple years, so it seems they've planned for the Slingshot to be around a while, and,


    - if they do discontinue the Slingshot line, there are comparatively few of them on the road. Immediate collector item and commensurate selling price hike for those who want to sell, and the aftermarket will continue to support those who want to continue their loyalty to the machine.

    I believe he told you wrong... Huntsville AL is where all Slingshots are made and will be for a long time. It's a brand new facility that only makes Rangers and Slingshots. I have toured the new facility and it's pretty amazing.


    Sales have finally caught up with the demand for Slingshots. Since sales have leveled off the normal production of Slingshots takes about 1/2 a day at the new facility. They were making around 10 to 15 in the first 1/2 of a day when I toured the facility. One thing to remember is that they only make Slingshots as they are ordered. They do not make "stock" orders. So you will see the line change from Slingshots to Rangers as the day progresses.

    I am hopeful that the Slingshot is successful and has a long life span in the market.


    I do think demand has leveled off. My dealer has 7-8 units on the floor and I suspect more inventory "out back" - while a year ago, a unit would be delivered and sold the same day.


    Also, Polaris is offering $4k and $2k off on some models to help move left over / older inventory. I would think that impacts used values in the near term.


    Just my $.02