Awesome!!!

[SpeedCostsMoney]

don't know why but I'm glad they are coming back.

Indian Motorcycle Home

I was saving up to buy another Harley but if these are out by then I might get one. I love the body work on those bikes.

[B-Rex]

I hope these guys finally get it right. I think this is like the third time I've heard of a new group buying the Indian name and starting production. They've got their work cut out for them but I wish them well. Harley would benefit from some serious U.S. competition.

My question is how will they deal with Harley's massive and super-effective marketing system? A lot of years and millions of dollars went into making it what it is today.

B-Rex

[Apertureguy]

I hope they really do come back.

[DrBob]

This was in the news back in 2004 when the current owners bought the name, and again in 2006 when they announced they would be building a factory in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. They hoped to be building bikes by the fall of 2007, but it didn't work out.

So far they have only a handful of bikes put together from the leftover bits they bought from the last version of Indian in Gilroy, California, and a chunk of land they want to build the first dealership on. But they are signing up dealers, and are taking deposits on 2009 Indians.

The new Indian has absolutely no plans to compete with Harley Davidson. Harley has about an 80% share of the cruiser market, and it would cost billions to jump in and try to take that market away from them - just ask Polaris, which has invested hundreds and hundreds of millions into Victory motorcycles to gain a meager 1% market share. No way you try and jump into that mainstream market.

Harley Davidson is about a $9 billion company. Indian hopes to become a $100 million dollar company with 50 dealers. This would make them about half as large as Big Dog, which sells 5000 bikes a year. So Indian is clearly going after a niche market: they will produce a small number of very expensive motorcycles for people willing to pay a lot to own something different. Look for their bikes to cost at least $50,000, and for them to produce maybe 500 the first year, eventually growing to sell 2500 bikes a year.

This is a good business model- you make more profit in the upper price range, need a much smaller investment than if you tried to be a mainstream manufacturer, and low output (if they are high quality bikes) means demand is high, and people should be willing to pay the price. I'm cautiously optomistic for their success, but would not invest in them or send a deposit unti I actually see some bikes coming off a production line.

[B-Rex]

Originally Posted by DrBob

The new Indian has absolutely no plans to compete with Harley Davidson. Harley has about an 80% share of the cruiser market, and it would cost billions to jump in and try to take that market away from them - just ask Polaris, which has invested hundreds and hundreds of millions into Victory motorcycles to gain a meager 1% market share. No way you try and jump into that mainstream market.

An interesting and informative post.

Which leads me to a serious question. How do they plan to deliver $50,000 worth of motorcycle? Obviously they are going to have to market something more than a name and retro styling.

I inferred from your post that they are going to take the high-quality route. And while I think that high-quality is unquestionably necessary, IMHO it is not sufficient. At least not in a $50k motorcycle.

Regardless of brand, I think most higher-end bikes now are high-quality. So that won't really set them apart. I guess my point is that even by going this "exclusivity" route, I don't really see them surviving unless, in addition to high-quality, they pull some sort of advanced technology out of their hat.

As it stands now, despite the nostalgia, the old Indian design is still old. I'm not optimistic that they will find enough buyers willing to pay $50,000 for it.

B-Rex

[SpeedCostsMoney]

Honestly, the only way I see them competing is coming under Harley’s pricing and sell a ton of them. I’d pick on up one if it was less then a Soft Tail. If they go niche they will fail just like the last rendition of the brand.

[KD57]

I had 2 Indian dirt bikes in the 70's. They were about 100cc I think. They also ran backwards 1/2 the time when you started it. I used to entertain folks riding backwards. Always had to let the clutch out slowly to see which way you might go. Fun little bike. I gave them to some kids down the street, should have kept them, might be a good collector bike now.