Polaris is looking for Dealers who want an Indian Motorcycle Franchise

[XDCX]

I was catching up on some reading last night and I noticed Polaris has a full-page ad in Automotive News looking for new dealers to relaunch the Indian brand of motorcycles.

I don't follow motorcycles too closely and didn't even know Polaris bought the rights to the Indian brand. Here's a link to a Polaris website that reviews their vision for the Indian brand and what they're looking for in terms of Dealer Applicants - click here

I just scanned the website quickly and it appears Polaris is looking for single-point dealers who are willing to spend up to $250K on a their facility and secure a $500K credit line. They're also looking for dealers who have an automotive or powersports background.

Would you invest in an Indian Franchise or do you think the market is already saturated with Harley-Davidson dealers?

[jayhawk]

after almost 20 years with 2 japanese oem's, we feel there is only one present and future king, hd.
its a crazy business, but i think the 250/500 figures are to shake out the pretenders before polaris has spent much time with them.
probably a good move on polaris part to build the indian brand.
all said , we would pass, wer'e finished paying for any franchises, crossfire was our last.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by jayhawk

its a crazy business, but i think the 250/500 figures are to shake out the pretenders before polaris has spent much time with them.

That's what I was thinking too.

It will be interesting to see if existing HD dealers decide to pick-up an Indian Franchise, or if Polaris is even interested in attracting existing HD dealers.

In my opinion, one of the reasons Fiat's launch in the U.S. failed is because Auburn Hills targeted large CJDR dealers who were already well established. I think most of these dealers treated their Fiat Franchise as their latest toy and didn't really work the franchise like a first generation dealer would.

If I were running Polaris' Dealer Franchise Operations I'd create a Dealer Development program where current GMs running Harley stores could get a chance to do a Buy-in/Buy-out.

It should be interesting to see what happens. While I like HD I think it's best when there's competition in the marketplace. It's a little bit like Samsung's dominance in the smartphone market - a market controlled by one large OEM typically isn't good for consumers.

[XDCX]

For those who are interested, here's a link to the Wikipedia page for Indian Motorcycle - click here

Here's a brief recap for the past 15 years or so:

1999 - Started building Motorcycles in Gilroy, CA - went bankrupt in 2003

2006 - Started building Motorcycles in Kings Mountain, NC - bought out by Polaris in 2011

2011 - Polaris moved production to Spirit Lake, IA and started production in August, 2011

[steve_biegler]

I don't believe Harley will allow a competitive franchise to be added to an existing store. There are some that are dualed with others but I'm sure they are old stores that had the other franchises before Harley took off. I'm pretty sure most states franchise laws protect MC dealers the same as car guys. Harley didn't have the luxury of a BK to thin out the dealers they don't want or approve of. I think most of the stores will sell off their metric trades. We get calls regularly for buy bids.

I agree with jayhawk, we sell the same makes as he does and whenever we start getting to the higher priced cruisers people fall into the Harley Trap....I have to have one because all my buddies give me **** for riding (insert any other MC brand) even though they are less expensive/ride better/more reliable. They won't admit the last part though. I believe Indian will turn out to be a non event for Polaris in the long term. I believe that they run into the "Harley trap" with their Victory line right now. Our local Victory dealer had them for 3 years then cut the cord, said the ATV and Side by Side business was to good to waste time on the bikes.

The only thing that really pisses me off about Harley is......I DON'T HAVE THE FRANCHISE!

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by steve_biegler

I don't believe Harley will allow a competitive franchise to be added to an existing store. There are some that are dualed with others but I'm sure they are old stores that had the other franchises before Harley took off. I'm pretty sure most states franchise laws protect MC dealers the same as car guys. Harley didn't have the luxury of a BK to thin out the dealers they don't want or approve of.

I wasn't thinking about a Harley Dealer adding Indian to an existing facility I was thinking about a Harley Dealer stepping up and building a new location for Indian. It appears that Polaris is looking for stand-alone facilities and a DBA that includes the Indian brand name.

To your point, I agree that HD has enough power now that they wouldn't allow a competitive dual unless it was already grandfathered in.

Originally Posted by steve_biegler

I think most of the stores will sell off their metric trades. We get calls regularly for buy bids.

It took a few seconds before the concept of "metric trades" sunk in.... That's a good point, do most HD dealers retail their Japanese trade-ins or do they wholesale them because they don't typically attract customers who are interested in Japanese bikes?

Originally Posted by steve_biegler

The only thing that really pisses me off about Harley is......I DON'T HAVE THE FRANCHISE!

I think a lot of people would agree with that.