[dsjr70]

Pontiac was waaaay more successful than Indian ever was. Pontiac is'dead' for a reason as well.

Pontiac isnt dead for the reason you might think. Pontiac outsold most of the GM nameplates except for Chevy. GM was banking on trade with China to boost sales figures but the Chinese dont buy Pontiac, they buy Buick (Why I have no idea). When it came down to crunch time Buick won out because China was going to make it easier for assembly plants to go in their Country.

As far as Indian goes, people will buy it just because of the name. People didnt stop buying Harleys because a bowling ball company owned them (well the smart ones did). People were buying Indians when they were taking a peice of crap Royal Enfield and throwing an Indian badge on them. Most bikers really are not that educated on the bikes they purchase. A 40 year old guy that never owned a bike and has wanted an Indian his whole life now he sees he can afford one.

But if you look on the Polaris website there used to be mention of a study they did of Harley riders asking if they would buy and Indian and then asking if they would buy one made by Polaris. It was a pretty high percentage.