Indian Motorcycle is at a crossroads of sorts. The heritage brand, which was recently sold by Polaris to Carolwood Capital, a private equity firm, has been facing a market that's aging up, aging out, or otherwise unable to afford the largely expensive cruisers and baggers it's been built upon. Harley-Davidson is facing the same problems, too.
And, honestly, many of the other brands have found issues with affordability and demographic shifts within their markets, as well. But while Harley-Davidson and Indian Motorcycle haven't adapted to those seismic shifts, those other brands have.
Honda, Kawasaki, BMW, Aprilia, and countless others have seen that not everyone can afford a $20,000 machine, nor wishes to start with a 700-pound-plus, 100-horsepower-plus motorcycle. Entry-level, starter bikes, or just small-displacement motorcycles have become all the rage, as they're not only great for new riders, but even older motorcyclists like myself just want something that works and isn't actively trying to kill me. And I say all of this because, while Harley-Davidson has finally said that it's going to build a small-displacement, entry-level motorcycle for the masses, Indian's executives were quoted at EICMA this year saying they just wanted to stay the course.
I don't think that's going to be enough, though.
Speaking to Motorcycle News at EICMA, Indian's Director of Product Planning, Ben Lindaman, told the network, "I think short term, our direction is really to focus on cruiser and bagger and touring in the United States and around the world," adding, "And once we have that growth and once we’ve established ourselves enough there, then we can go do anything. It’s really how we feel."
I'm not too sure about that, though.
Cruiser, bagger, and big bike sales have been in the toilet for a while now. The folks who grew up idolizing those motorcycles already have them, and were able to purchase $20,000, $30,000, and even $40,000 motorcycles because the economy was far better for them than it is today. Cheap interest rates, solid wages, and affordability was a real thing. But even more than that, those motorcycles were the vibe of that generation. That just isn't the case anymore.
If you look at recent sales figures, which we do often around here, you'll see the smaller motorcycles making up a larger and larger portion of a company's recent sales. Triumph and Royal Enfield have been absolutely killing it, and even names like KTM, which had its serious woes thanks to all its expensive-ass motorcycles, are dominating largely due to its 390 lineup. Add the lacking motorcycling media around the EV dirt bike world, which is absolutely staggeringly large and made up entirely of children and teens, and you've got an arrow pointed directly at where the market is and isn't, and the latter is big, heavy, expensive cruisers.
Even more annoyingly, Lindaman threw the FTR under the bus, and basically said they killed it off to focus on cruisers and baggers, as that's what the public wanted. But while I loved the FTR myself, why the hell didn't Indian ever throw a smaller engine into it? Why didn't Indian make a more entry-level or intermediate-level FTR? It's the same issue I have with Harley-Davidson's Pan America. You need to diversify the lineup and give folks the chance to work their way up to the high-horsepower, heavyweight machines. Or just stick with the smaller bikes. It's that simple.
But I do get the sentiment of sticking to what you know. I get where Lindaman is coming from, even though I vehemently disagree with his and Indian's assessment. Don't make waves until you've steadied the ship. But if you're not going to experiment, if you're not going to innovate, if you're not going to try things out when the market is telling you that you should absolutely try things out, then you're doomed to sink the ship anyway. Hopefully, they see that soon.
