After reading this article with the VP of Indian (apparently a dual role he shares with Victory) I wanted to share my thoughts and field yours. The biggest takeaway for me was:
"When we did our due diligence, we were on watch for what’s the potential for cannibalization? We had third party consultants help us, and their feedback and all the research we did said low, single-digit cannibalization."
I assume that means they only expect at the most a 9% drop in Victory sales with the intro of Indian. Not sure how that can possibly be quantified when the market for Indians seems to be almost exclusively current Victory riders and people who are either brand loyal to Indian/nostalgia or anti-Harley so that's a generous portion of potential Victory buyers. It seems that Victory will be aimed at the younger crowd (another sentiment shared by Steve) while Indian will obviously stay vintage. But the problem seems to be that the new Indian with keyless ignition, remote locking saddlebags, adjustable wind screen, more torque, and a smoother fit and finish runs counter intuitive to that line of thinking. Feels more like my XC is an Expedition while the Chieftain is a Navigator. Makes me wonder does the Indian innovation trickle down (that statement seems like an oxymoron) or in the interest of keeping the brands seperate and keeping Indian more "premium" will those of us happy with our Vic be forced to trade up for those features thus keeping Victory from evolving and raising that "single-digit cannibalization" they don't seem to be concerned with.
Also I hate the slogan "choice in American motorcycles is here" .... it's been here leaving HD in the dust for 15 years.
Not a sermon ... Just a thought!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonfogelson/2013/09/17/an-interview-with-steve-menneto-vice-president-of-indian-motorcycles/
"When we did our due diligence, we were on watch for what’s the potential for cannibalization? We had third party consultants help us, and their feedback and all the research we did said low, single-digit cannibalization."
I assume that means they only expect at the most a 9% drop in Victory sales with the intro of Indian. Not sure how that can possibly be quantified when the market for Indians seems to be almost exclusively current Victory riders and people who are either brand loyal to Indian/nostalgia or anti-Harley so that's a generous portion of potential Victory buyers. It seems that Victory will be aimed at the younger crowd (another sentiment shared by Steve) while Indian will obviously stay vintage. But the problem seems to be that the new Indian with keyless ignition, remote locking saddlebags, adjustable wind screen, more torque, and a smoother fit and finish runs counter intuitive to that line of thinking. Feels more like my XC is an Expedition while the Chieftain is a Navigator. Makes me wonder does the Indian innovation trickle down (that statement seems like an oxymoron) or in the interest of keeping the brands seperate and keeping Indian more "premium" will those of us happy with our Vic be forced to trade up for those features thus keeping Victory from evolving and raising that "single-digit cannibalization" they don't seem to be concerned with.
Also I hate the slogan "choice in American motorcycles is here" .... it's been here leaving HD in the dust for 15 years.
Not a sermon ... Just a thought!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonfogelson/2013/09/17/an-interview-with-steve-menneto-vice-president-of-indian-motorcycles/
