The end of Victory Motorcycles
Victorious no more
Sad news was received on 9th January with the statement that Polaris is closing down Victory motorcycles.
The company will begin to cease production immediately. The process, it claims, should take around 18 months. Polaris states that the decision will allow it to focus more on Indian Motorcycles, another of its on-road motorcycle brands.
Created by Polaris, Victory Motorcycles started out in 1997. Until then, the Polaris range had mainly consisted of snowmobiles and ATVs. Victory was the company's attempt to expand its range with some road bike. Its purchase of Indian in 2011 was complementary to this.
Polaris has been competing with American motorcycle giant Harley-Davidson. But it's struggled to keep up. Despite recent gains, the Victory brand has lost money in three of the past five years. Indian, on the other hand, has been a great success story for the firm. Sales are increasing and so is distribution. Polaris' CEO Scott Wine said that closing Victory "has been an incredibly difficult decision", but that its "focus is on profitable growth". You can read the full statement
here.
The company will continue to honour warranties and supply parts and service for its existing models for the next 10 years.
Almost 60 Victory models were released in its 18 years of production. These include Hammer, Vegas, Cross Country, Vision, and its award-winning debut model, V92C.
Comments
12/01/17 - Better than Hardly Worthitson could ever hope to be .. Victory made some damn fine Machines ..
12/01/17 - What a shame
12/01/17 -
People don't buy Harley's because they are great motorcycles.
I wish them well with the Indian brand
12/01/17 - I have ridden both Victory and Indian bikes recently. Technically both superior to HD in my opinion. I hope the Indian brand thrives
12/01/17 - Not a cruiser guy, but the more bikes on the road the better it is. Victory have a fresh look in the cruiser market, it'll be a shame to see them go
13/01/17 -
I had a hammer and it was a really cool bike never missed a heartbeat what a shame
13/01/17 - Whilst I agree that technically they are probably better than HD, they sort of missed the point of what people really wanted. The most popular Harley is the sportster which has retained its retro styling and air cooled twin. It's a simple bike that is simply fun and the victory just doesn't look or feel right. I had great hopes for the new Indians too, but in my opinion whilst the styling is certainly better than the victory, I'm afraid that cluttered look and water cooling just isn't right.
13/01/17 - They gave you all the goodies as standard while hd charge f*ckwit prices for extras gave you the 250mm back wheel as standard
13/01/17 - But HD still sell more bikes, perhaps if victory had brought out a bike that was simpler and with better styling to compete with the sportster they would have done better?. I really wanted to love the Indian Scout for example, which if it had followed the original ideals of the scout would have been an Indian "sportster". But alas they did not , it's a misjudged behemoth of a bike that will only appeal to the minority!.
13/01/17 - HD dont sell bikes...they sell a lifestyle...I prefer to have the bike
13/01/17 - I thought that attitude had died out. People buy the bike they like for the purpose they intend to use it for, while I have no interest in the big Harley's I do own a sportster and chose it after riding several bikes including the victory.
Now if what you mean by lifestyle is that I enjoy riding, do my own mechanical work and servicing etc then you may be right . After 38 years of riding just about every make and many models of bike, I think I'm capable of picking a bike that without some outdated idea of what image I'm trying to portray..
14/01/17 - victory was a better product a 1200 sportster tried have it with at the ramp leading to Brighton marina I had my wife on the back of the hammer absolutely ate his lunch , when we got to the top he said that's a fast bike lol knowing he'd been out powered and that was just standard . In fairness the people who knock hd usually have never owned one
14/01/17 - Sadly not outdated, HOG, alive and well in the UK....
14/01/17 - just to say I have owned a 2007 Street Bob and 2008 Nightrain.... loved them both but not the crap that comes with them...
14/01/17 - But HOG membership is a choice, and is little different to any other motorcycle club. I have a victory dealer in my town and rallies and meets are quite regular, much the same as HOG.
14/01/17 - It's sad that Victory are stopping production, for the industry and the bike owners. But if you intend to go head to head with HD you are not going to achieve it with a technically superior bike. If it was all the Japanese manufacturers would be outselling. That's not why people buy Harley's. As I said the sportster is by far the biggest seller and people love its idiosyncrasies. The only bike I can see available at the moment that can topple the sportster from its perch is the new triumph bobber. I fully intend to try one
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