Polaris Announces Plans To Shut Down Victory Motorcycle Brand

victory motorcycle
Polaris announced its plans on Monday to shut down its Victory motorcycle brand after 18 years.

Eighteen years after using the brand to launch itself into the on-road powersports market, Polaris announced this morning that it is shutting down its Victory motorcycle division.

The plan, according to the press release Polaris sent out today, is to put its traditional, on-road motorcycle focus on the Indian brand that Polaris acquired a few years back plus build sales through its unique, cockpit-oriented Slingshot motorcycle brand.

Below is the press release from Polaris.

 

Polaris Industries to Wind Down Victory Motorcycles Operations Strengthening its Position in the Powersports Industry

 01/09/2017

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.

 

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