Illinois dealership adds Indian, undergoes renovation
iMotorsports, one of the largest pre-owned motorcycle retailers in the U.S., announced it has added Indian Motorcycles at its flagship store in Elmhurst, Illinois. The move comes after iMotorsports had success with the brand in two recently acquired Florida dealerships — Indian Motorcycle of Orlando and St. Pete Powersports of St. Petersburg.
The retailer is best known for its pre-owned online motorcycle business, where customers can get free shipping to anywhere in the continental U.S. if they buy a bike over $5,000. But co-founder Tim Walter believes that there’s a market for new Indian units in the Chicago area, especially since there are no Indian dealers within 35 miles of their location.
“We’re strong believers in what Indian is doing and where they are going, and Chicago is the largest motorcycle market and we think it’s underserved with the stores here now,” Walter told Powersports Business.
To better cater their new lineup of Indian bikes to customers, their flagship location underwent a $1 million dollar renovation, which included adding 3,000 square feet of extra space on the showroom floor.
“We added on about 3,000 square feet and we remodeled an additional 4,000 square feet of showroom to take on Indian. We renovated big chunks of the building to improve customer experience,” Walter said.
As part of the new line, iMotorsports also revealed an ambitious goal: to become the largest volume Indian Motorcycle dealership in the U.S. within two years. Between the high number of door swings the dealership gets already and the goal of converting local Harley-Davidson riders, Walter believes they can accomplish the feat.
“The strength of the walk-in traffic and the phone calls and the email leads from selling over 1,000 pre-owned units a year — it can happen,” Walter said. “We hope to take 10 percent of those leads and put them on an Indian. Chicago’s market share is about five percent, and then you add a point or two with Harley continuing to shrink as it has. If you add those two things together, that’s how we think we can be the top dealer in 24 months.”
As all three of its storefronts now sell Indian, iMotorsports announced that all of their new Indian units include a Limited Lifetime Powertrain Warranty. iMotorsports also plans to host rides on nearby Route 66, as well as monthly events at the Elmhurst location.