Polaris To Wind Down Victory Motorcycles But Electric Empulse Could Be Reborn

Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

Jan 26, 2017 at 5:00pm ET

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Victory Empulse RR at Pikes Peak

Polaris Industries announced this month that it has begun winding down its Victory Motorcycles brand, as well as related operations.

The reason cited is a lack of profitability for Victory, and an approaching investment requirement for new models.

Moving forward, Polaris has decided to focus on its other, money-making, ventures (think Indian Motorcyclse) and to abandon Victory Motorcycles.

Victory Empulse TT

In the short term, that also means the withdrawal of the Victory Empulse TT electric motorcycle (based on the Brammo Empusle).

"Polaris Industries, Inc. 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."

"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."

Polaris acquired Brammo in 2015, and tried to sell a slightly redesigned Empulse for about $20,000, as well as use racing version as marketing tool for the Victory Brand, starting at Isle of Man and continuing on to Pikes Peak in 2016.

According to Motorcycle.com article, Polaris will "continue the electric part of the business...“ It's also expected that we will see electric Indian motorcycle as competitor for upcoming electric Harley-Davidson in the next few years.

"Future products and markets will develop, both on-road and off-road"

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Polaris Industries Chairman and CEO Scott Wine said:

“This was an incredibly difficult decision for me, my team and the Polaris Board of Directors. 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 honoured 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.”

“This decision will improve the profitability of Polaris and our global motorcycle business, and will materially improve our competitive stance in the industry. 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.”

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