Yes, it’s been a while since a new Victory Motorcycle has rolled off an assembly line but I am happy to report that they are alive and well. They are just living under the skin of the Indian® brand name.
Let me be clear. Indian Motorcycle® would not exist today in its current form if it weren’t for Victory motorcycles and a bunch of hard-working engineers, sales, marketing, production, dealers, and various other key people involved with building a new motorcycle company from scratch.
The work that the Victory Motorcycle team did in the late ’90s was instrumental in laying the foundation for the new Indian Motorcycle®. If it weren’t for Victory it would likely be another 5-7 years before the new Indian Motorcycle® would be as good as it is today. That’s right, the new Indian Motorcycle® is not just a good motorcycle, it’s a GREAT motorcycle and it has Victory to thank for that.
Let me be the first to say, it was a long, hard, and frustrating road bringing a new American-made motorcycle to market. For all those involved, we worked hard for every sale. The dealers held bike nights, attended rallies, hosted destination rides, and ordered more bikes than they could sell. The Harley crowd was our intended buyer but they could have cared less. Our bike had more power, rode, and handled better but didn’t sell well due to the high cost of ownership and low brand recognition. Asking a loyal Harley rider to switch brands was like asking them to move out of the country.
We did sell a good number of Victory bikes to buyers looking for a high-tech, American-made cruiser that wasn’t a “me too” motorcycle. These buyers were often riders who got out of motorcycling to raise a family, start a career, and then return to the sport later in life. They were looking for something a little unique, more up-to-date, and stylish. Victory hit the nail on the head where these needs were concerned.
In 2011 Polaris Industries (the parent company of Victory motorcycle) purchased the rights to Indian Motorcycle® and so it was, the beginning of the end for Victory. The dealers who sold Victory Motorcycles were the hardest hit by the news. In fact, the news came in the worst way possible, and with no prior warning, the Polaris team decided to announce the news to its dealers via a faxed press release. On January 9th, 2017 Polaris began winding down the production of Victory Motorcycles.
I’m not suggesting that the company made the wrong decision here, in fact, if any brand has a chance at knocking the King off his throne it would be the Indian Motorcycle® brand. What I’m suggesting is that all of the hard work and effort on behalf of the Victory motorcycle group and its dealer network was NOT for nothing. Victory Motorcycles will live on forever in the genetic make-up of the new Indian® Motorcycle brand.
Motorbike Mike 
Not even close. Indian is not even comparable. Totally different bike.
Apparently, you didn’t get the picture. Maybe reread it. Thanks for the comment!
Not sure what your comment is about. Indian isn’t comparable to Victory or Harley? It’s a well built bike, with better backing than Harley Davidson, (Polaris).
What don’t you understand? Victory paved the way for Indian-
need to bring victory back
Indian is nothing more than Victory’s ugly cousin. I’ve yet to see an Indian that stands out like a Vic. Maybe if Polaris had actually put any real money into advertising, they might have knocked “the King” off his throne. And the fact that Polaris isn’t living up to their promise to provide parts for 10 years is appalling. I hope Indian fails. Polaris had a great bike with Victory and to ditch a brand that they built up from nothing for a nostalgic name. A cheap move, since neither Harley nor Indian had any “brand recognition” or “brand loyalty” at first, either.
Now, now there, lets not get our underwear in a bunch. It doesn’t help the motorcycle industry in general when any brand fails now does it!? I miss Victory too 😦
Still riding my 2013 Victory Cross Country … solid bike!
That’s lame. Total “me too” Approach to build your own company from the ground up, have it succeed, and then dump it as soon as it makes enough money to buy the Indian name. That’s called selling out.
they need to bring victory back. Nobody looks at the Indians like they’re looking at an original. That’s the irony of it. They sold their own original American motorcycle company that they built from the ground up, a company that would have eventually put Harley on her knees, to buy the famous name of a dead motorcycle company. Polaris is like the AMF of Indian.
In my humble option the Victory was and still is the most beautiful bike to roll off the assembly line. That said, money talks and you know what walks.
There was and still is a huge following world wide for the Victory line. But sadly that is lost now . The only hope for owners like me is to wait it out until the bike I own becomes a collectors prize. Again, sadly I may not live that long.
I also hope that parts will available for many years to come or another manufacturer will pick up the Victory line, because I plan, like many other Victory fans, to ride my Kingpin Tour until my riding days are over.
I am not bitter about any of this. Business is business, I get it. But, there is what is called brand loyalty which is totally a persons choice. As for buying a Polaris product, that is based on trust in the brand. Although Polaris will not notice that I will never by from them again, what they did to their Victory owners will be nearly impossible to fix. That, like stupid, is forever.
Although, Victory motorcycles were discontinued by its manufacturers for not gaining market share, it was not a bad motorcycle – Consumer Report rated Victory above the Harley Davidson for reliability – it’s the only motorcycle exclusively built motorcycle in the USA. Not like the Harley Davidson, most of it parts came from Mexico, Japan, Italy, and China. I would rather ride my V92C with great pride than to ride a Chinese Harley. I rather fight than switch to keep my V92C alive. And that’s no BULL 🐂….