No Longer in Powersports Industry Ownership
The news that Polaris had sold its Indian Motorcycle division wasn ' t entirely unexpected. Rumors had been gathering pace all year that the company was looking for an exit. The further news that Michael Speetzen ' s present board of directors went with the unwind of the expansionist programs of former CEO Scott Wine ' s era, the more likely it became that Indian Motorcycle would, eventually, be the next property to be off loaded. Personally, I picked up a first whisper in January 2025. Indeed, for those who read corporate maps, exiting the AFT race series without any complaints when it was announced that it was to become a production motorcycle only series( despite its great success), and unceremoniously dumping the internationally popular FTR, were among the many breadcrumbs that the Polaris board had scattered. Had the company been planning to further exploit AFT success then where was the homologated street-tracker? It was clear that the priorities at the Medina, Minnesota HQ had shifted. It had been widely reported that in the past 24 months or so Indian Motorcycle had finally transitioned into making a trading working it with demonic vigor profit. However, the Polaris board has seen its stock price collapse in the past five years and have been running to stand still where capital resources are concerned. From around $ 146 in April 2021, the Polaris share price was down in the $ 134 territory in July 2023 but then collapsed via $ 82 a year ago in October 2024 to $ 33 in April this year. At the time of writing( October 22, 2025) it had recovered substantially to the $ 66 mark in just 6 months, and that included an approx. $ 5 bump on news of the Indian Motorcycle divestiture( October 13). The lens through which the Polaris board will have been eying the prospects for Indian Motorcycle in the long-term must have been one of uncertainty. Looked at from Medina, Minnesota future must still have looked cloudy where the long-term viability of resource intensive and ' spendy ' heritage styled large displacement cruisers and touring motorcycles are concerned. At a time when lighter and easier to ride ' rider aid ' tech laden mid and smaller displacement models are ' the new black ', Polaris could be forgiven for eyeing the chances of ever making enough from Indian Motorcycle to recover the capital it has sunk into it with a great deal of scepticism. The opportunity to bank an undisclosed sum now and get out clean would have been hard to resist. It can be no coincidence that further MY 2026 off-road news, with the announcement of updated RZR and Ranger UTVs came within 48-hours of the Indian sell-off news. They could have waited for the body to get cold before heading back into the comfort zone of their day job. They say that timing is everything. Jochen Zeitz became CEO at Harley in February 2020, just as the world was headed into pandemic lock-down. On the other hand, Artie Starrs has taken over just as a primary and prospering competitor ceased to be under Powersports Industry ownership. That might seem like a tough judgement- the deal to sell Indian to LA based Carolwood LP is not even closed yet, but regular readers will know that I have never been a fan of Private Equity. Though he was specifically referencing Goldman Sachs, at the time of the 2008 / 2009 Financial Crisis, to channel Matt Taibbi ' s award winning journalism for Rolling Stone, for me, it is Private Equity in general that is the " great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money." The two strokes of genius that Carolwood have deployed so far though are to have built acquisition of the Spirit Lake, Iowa factory into the deal, and to appoint former Harley executive Mike Kennedy as the new CEO once the deal has completed. The last two times ownership of the Indian brand changed hands, production was halted and re-started elsewhere. There are those who would argue that the brand benefited on both occasions, but those same people would quite rightly acknowledge that the workforce at Spirit Lake( also retained) have done a fine job of making fine motorcycles. Putting Mike Kennedy in a position where he can go ' toe-to-toe ' with his alma mater immediately gives Carolwood the motorcycle industry chops that they lack, indeed, as a Private Equity business Carolwood don ' t actually make anything- except, they would argue, money. Mike Kennedy buys Carolwood credibility- at least in the short to medium term- and gives Indian motorcycle the most motorcycle industry experienced executive it has had since, ironically, Ray Sotello of ' Gilroy ' Indian fame( infamy?). Existing Polaris ' Indian Motorcycle President Mike Dougherty has done a good job, and he built on the excellent start that Steve Menneto gave it under Polaris ' ownership. But Kennedy is a ' lifer ' and one who has swum in motorcycle industry waters outside of the confines of the ' shining seas '. I am happy to acknowledge the initial reports emanating from Milwaukee and Harley dealers, that new man Artie Starrs appears to understand that in a complex equation of competing priorities, it is Harley ' s dealer network that can be the magic money tree and that his immediate initial focus on them is to be welcomed. So too are what appears to be natural instincts to ' keep it real '- maybe good things will come from a corporate background populated by Pizza and Golf rather than Luxury Goods and Contemporary African Art. Zeitz had appeared to have forgotten that he had come from a humble third rate running shoe background, but Starrs already appears to be the kind of guy who will wear his lack of motorcycle industry experience lightly, rather than be weighed down by it. At Indian, Kennedy will be able to glow in the reflected glory of a brand with its game face on. A brand with a well sorted model range that compares well with the product coming out of Milwaukee, especially where Harley is weakest- in the nowadays allimportant middleweight segment. He should be allowed the luxury of enjoying the ' warm and fuzzies ' from the 2025 model range for at least five minutes before ' working it ' with demonic vigor. It is unknown what the engineers and designers at Indian have up their sleeve next, but this year they showed that they are ' Froods who know where their towels are '( google it).
Robin Bradley
Co-owner / Editor-in-Chief robin @ dealer-world. com