Indian Campaign is Stupid

An entire marketing strategy based on nothing but Harley bashing? They were founded 1903? We were founded 1901. They have 110 cubic inch? We have 111. Their owners are posers who don't really ride except to Starbucks and they trailer their bikes to Sturgis. Wah Wah Wah.

Who are they kidding? Indian has gone out of business like 100 times. And they are selling $30,000 chrome retro-barges that will be bought by exactly the kind of people that they are making fun of. I think they may alienate more people than they attract.

Why not just be straight up and say hey, we make an expensive, over-styled, retro-dominated alternative for your mid-life crisis?

That's the part that gets me- they're foisting off american chopper barges at 30k a pop. Pretty sure the only ones that can afford those aren't the "real" Harley guys anyhow.

Haven't seen the ads. Whoever is "Indian" motorcycles today is probably a 1 or 2 year old company that bought some rights to use the name. The last several iterations have not turned out very well because if you're going to blow 30 or 40 large on a motorcycle, it had better say "Harley-Davidson" on it somewhere. Like that company, I forget the name, Excelsior or something, that bought the rights to the name, set up a factory, made a bike and sold them, then went bankrupt before the end of the first production run. Spent 100 million dollars on the factory, office building (really nice,) etc., made 100 bikes. That makes each bike worth 1 million dollars (manufacturing cost.) They call them the Million Dollar Bike. I saw one at Sturgis a few years ago in the museum.

On the plus side, wait a year or two and buy the "Indian" parts cheap from retailers that bought them at the bankruptcy auction. They will probably be remarkably similar in size and function to HD parts.

Polaris now owns them. If I had to guess they are selling the last of the previous companies bits and bobs before they make victory based Indians which are supposed to be in the 13-18K range.

They have a good marketing team, it just might work better then the rest of the guys who bought the brand.

EDIT

They are already selling the cheaper Polaris made ones on the Indian site. The chief classic is about the same as a softail in terms of price. I even think they are offering it with ABS.

Oh, well, if Polaris is the new Indian, then they may stick around a while. They actually have a dealer network and experience building (and selling) bikes.

In reply to pinchvalve:

So its about the same campaign as Victory.....they're bikes for those who don't want associated with Harley people.

Yes, Polaris owns it and has developed an all-new 111cid. motor which is supposed to be pretty good. I get the "Made in America/Canada alternative to Harley" approach. Even support it. But why go to such lengths to bash Harley and their riders? Especially with a name that is tenuous at best.

In reply to pinchvalve:

Who doesn't bash harley riders? I think that list would be much much shorter.

Polaris will be around for a LONG time unless something extreme happens. And the new Indians are priced right in line with similar offerings from The Motor Company. I have looked them over pretty good and I must say that I was impressed. Not my style though... I'm under 90 so I won't be looking at anything with a HD badge or Indian

We need to be clear the corporate conglomerate that owns Polaris is the guys that actually know what they are doing. They own a variety of lifestyle brands now and have a proven track record of turning dead brands around, specifically US made/designed products.

Personally the styling does not flow the way the originals did but that is more the effect of modern bike requirements then a style decision to me.

Lots of interesting questions regarding the legality of the Indian name. It's still anything but clear. However the people that challenge it haven't the funds for the fight.

Polaris isn't the greatest at marketing bikes, the Victory being the example I'd use. Very much a look don't touch world, as well "we're better than anything, just because we say so". They are still a niche market, and seem determined to never grow beyond that.

That said, this iteration of the Indian name seems the best and most likely to succeed out of all the variants that have popped up over the past 20-30 years.

Just about every auto ad campaign these days tries to show how their brand is better than the others, so it's not like they're doing anything new.

As mentioned Polaris now owns the brand, they've developed an all new engine (instead of the H-D clone engines previous versions have used) and they have the money and engineering background to make the Indian brand work.

How long until a Native American group sues over the name?

Dr. Hess wrote: Haven't seen the ads. Whoever is "Indian" motorcycles today is probably a 1 or 2 year old company that bought some rights to use the name. The last several iterations have not turned out very well because if you're going to blow 30 or 40 large on a motorcycle, it had better say "Harley-Davidson" on it somewhere. Like that company, I forget the name, Excelsior or something, that bought the rights to the name, set up a factory, made a bike and sold them, then went bankrupt before the end of the first production run. Spent 100 million dollars on the factory, office building (really nice,) etc., made 100 bikes. That makes each bike worth 1 million dollars (manufacturing cost.) They call them the Million Dollar Bike. I saw one at Sturgis a few years ago in the museum. On the plus side, wait a year or two and buy the "Indian" parts cheap from retailers that bought them at the bankruptcy auction. They will probably be remarkably similar in size and function to HD parts.

Excelsior-Henderson. Factory's still vacant about an hour southwest of me. Gorgeous facility.

pinchvalve wrote: How long until a Native American group sues over the name?

Not before whitey sues first over the percieved slighting of our Native brethren.

pinchvalve wrote: How long until a Native American group sues over the name?

if they ain't from India, berkeley 'em.

Car companies do these adds all the time. Why should Indian be any different?

As do beer... and soda... and fast food and...

Any time a company goes way out of their way to explain how their mainstream product is totaally differently more betterer than their chief competitors but givez no details of exactly how, the less difference there is.

I love old Indians. I love old Harleys for that matter (1920s and 1930s). However, both brands sell over-dressed, heavy and gaudy machines (with the exception of the Sportster and V-Rod). There is apparently a market for such bikes so Indian, Harley and the other manufacturers for that matter, would be crazy not to capitalize that. I am in the minority. I thought the XR1200 was freaking brilliant!

What I don't get is the idea that every "cruiser" at this point has to have a 45 degree V-Twin and a bunch of bodywork that mimics the H-D stuff. Indian would be so much more interesting to me if Polaris combined their dealer network with the engine from Motus. V4 fashioned after half of an LS-type V8? A sporty looking bike and a touring bike?

I guess I believe that the future for anyone outside of H-D should be something more forward looking than a copy of H-D.

In reply to pres589:

As with many industries, when a product catches on, it spawns imitators. Breaking new ground is risky. It can be rewarding if you hit on the right product at the right time, but missing the mark can be disastrous. Apple hit a home run with the IPod, IPad and IPhone, but it missed with the IMac. There is something to be said for letting someone else take the risk and imitating them if they are successful.

pinchvalve wrote: How long until a Native American group sues over the name?

Well, technically, they aren't Indians. That was a mistake made by Christopher Columbus in 1492 because he thought he was somewhere else... then... ummmm... propagated by idiots for the 521 years we've known he wasn't in the berkeleying West Indies. (but, they would probably win anyway)

They should change the bike name to the Indigenous Peoples - so atleast they would be correct.

An 80 inch cruiser designed by Buell called the Indian Brave may capture my interest. Anythang endorsed by pickers from Iowa is DOA.

I don't understand why everyone puts the engine in the frame the wrong way.

I hope they come out with a modern version of this -

make it a softtail, keep the girder fork, don't put wide tires on it.