Analyst: Top trade-in for Indian bikes is Road King

Indian dealers remain “quite upbeat about business,” according to a research note provided to Powersports Business by BMO Capital Markets Corp. analyst Gerrick Johnson.

Johnson recently spoke with several dealers who sell Victory, Indian and/or Slingshot, and found those dealers “are still very happy with the retail performance of Polaris’ on-road motorcycle brands; seeing continued good momentum with the re-launched Indian brand, strong positioning of Victory as a younger/performance brand, and superb initial response to the new introduced Slingshot three-wheeled roadster. The only concern we hear is the company’s ability to supply vehicles at a pace quick enough to satisfy demand.”

Here are some outtakes of what Johnson writes about each brand:

Indian

“Dealers in northern climates tend to have more sold motorcycles on the floor than unsold ones, as the company has been slow in re-stocking dealers’ inventory, while many buyers choose not to pick up their motorcycle until the weather warms up.

The new Scout is selling particularly well, and is already being called the motorcycle of the year by many industry followers. One dealer claims that over two-thirds of the Scouts he has sold since launch have occurred without the customer even seeing or sitting on the motorcycle.”

“Dealers estimate that sales are coming from a broad collection of buyers, evenly spread across new buyers, trade-ins from former Harley-Davidson owners, and trade-ins of import brands. Indian recently ran an offer in the month of February for $1,000 off to any customer trading in a Harley-Davidson, showing, if there was any doubt, exactly the customer Polaris is going after. Dealers note that the top trade-in model on this offer has been the Harley-Davidson Road King, which makes sense as Road King has been Harley’s weakest performing heavy-weight bike at retail over the last year.”

Victory

“After some weakness in 2014, when the Indian brand took center stage in the company’s motorcycle business, dealers believe the Victory brand is again regaining sales momentum. With the Indian brand being utilized to tap into the older, heritage American motorcycle market, Polaris has repositioned its Victory brand to be more attractive to younger consumers who value performance and more aggressive styling. By eliminating bells and whistles not always appreciated by a younger crowd, the company has also been able to drop the price on many models in the Victory line, further enhancing its appeal with this segment.” 

Slingshot

“Dealers are also happy with initial reaction to the Slingshot three-wheeled ‘motorcycle’ with brisk sales out of the gate. Texas dealers tell us that they still can’t sell the Slingshot in their state, as it does not fit the legal definition of a motorcycle. For now, though, this fact will have little impact on sales forecasts, as dealers in every other region where the vehicle is legal is still on allocation and seem to be selling out of Slingshots shortly after receiving them.”