Leaked communication shines light on Indian shake-up
Letters from Indian Motorcycle’s new owners to its employees and dealerships have been leaked, revealing future intentions.
When news first broke last week that Polaris is cutting ties with Indian Motorcycle - thereby effectively ending an almost 30-year foray into the world of motorbikes - we couldn’t help but fear the worst.
As we wrote in our analysis of the break-up: “If I were an Indian Motorcycle employee right now, I’d definitely not be taking out any new mortgages.”
Now, thanks to information leaked to the ‘gray lady’ of motorcycling, Cycle World, we know that both Polaris and Indian’s new owner, Carolwood LP, have been seeking to assuage such concerns - both among Indian’s 900 employees and its network of more than 600 dealerships worldwide.
The magazine got hold of three letters sent in the wake of Polaris’ announcement. One letter was sent by Carolwood to its new employees, one sent by Polaris to Indian dealerships, and one sent by Carolwood to Indian dealerships.
In all three cases, much of the information shared is stuff we already know: Polaris is selling its majority stake in the Indian Motorcycle brand, cutting it loose to be a stand-alone entity under the aegis of Carolwood. Polaris will keep a non-controlling minority share in Indian, ostensibly as a sign of faith in its future, and Indian’s new CEO will be industry veteran Mike Kennedy.
The message to employees
When the deal is completed early next year, Indian’s 900 employees will cease to receive paychecks from Polaris and instead be under the umbrella of Carolwood. The letters don’t say anything about this, but that process will probably be thorny. Polaris offers a pretty good package of benefits - especially in the context of the United States - and Indian’s unionized factory workers in both Spirit Lake, Iowa, and Osceola, Wisconsin, won’t be keen on giving those up.
Related to that, union representatives will probably be raising a sceptical eyebrow at this particular line in Carolwood’s letter to employees: “Indian Motorcycle will be Carolwood’s flagship company. Our goal is to build a nimble, unified American motorcycle company - one that honors Indian’s unmatched heritage while fearlessly competing for the future.”
Talk of being ‘nimble’ and competitive is usually code for redundancies in my experience. Whereas talk of being ‘unified’ could give a sense of who will be the target of those redundancies: anyone who thinks they’re a bad idea. Get on board or go away.
That said, Carolwood seems to want to assure employees that their jobs aren’t (yet) on the line.
“We are long-term investors in strong brands, exceptional people, and legacies that matter,” says the letter (keeping in mind that Carolwood has previously invested in a bunch of LA cafes, a hot sauce brand, and a YouTube content creator). “Indian Motorcycle embodies all three.”
Carolwood also seems to subtly suggest a reason for Polaris’ decision to walk away from Indian: that it didn’t have the bandwidth to pay attention to something that only represented 7 percent of the Polaris’ overall business last year.
Under Carolwood’s watch, the letter seems to imply, Indian will get more love.
“We believe deeply in this company’s future and are committed to giving it the independence, resources, and focus it deserves to thrive,” the letter says.
According to recent Polaris filings, Indian Motorcycle took in $478 million in revenue over the last year.
The message to dealers
The letters to dealers are filled with platitudes, as Cycle World observes, but not a great deal of actual detail. Dealers are being told by Polaris that they "should expect no interruptions in their day-to-day operations.”
Meanwhile, Carolwood’s Joel Harmon urges dealers to “stay on the gas” in terms of promoting and selling Indian products.
“Create a premium shopping and ownership experience at your dealership, host events, engage your IMRG (Indian Motorcycle Riders Group) chapters, and amplify your local marketing efforts,” he tells them - without necessarily offering Indian/Carolwood support to do so.
Nonetheless, Harmon’s multiple paragraphs of ‘platitudes’ asking dealers to “stay engaged and connected,” suggests he knows how important they are.
No one’s said this part out loud, but it’s pretty much a given that Indian is going to lose dealerships off the back of all this. Especially in places like the UK, where Indian Motorcycle’s bikes are sold not by dedicated Indian-only franchises but multi-brand independent shops. It’s not hard to imagine a scenario in which a shop that doesn’t sell all that many Indians in a year would use this as an excuse to walk away.
How many of its dealerships it manages to retain will be vital to Indian’s future success or failure.
Other bits of information
There are a few other bits of information to be gleaned from the three letters. Firstly: Indian is “gearing up to announce our 2026 lineup later this year.” There’s not much year left for Indian to do that. Could it be planning a big reveal at EICMA?
Probably not. In recent years under Polaris, model year lineups have largely consisted of the same bikes with different paint. Carolwood may want to "achieve the next level of success,” but we wouldn’t see that this early, even in a best-case scenario.
Secondly, in lauding Indian’s past success, Harmon effectively confirms that Indian Motorcycle won’t be shifting focus in terms of segment. Observers may argue that it’s a game of diminishing returns, but Indian will be making cruisers - perhaps exclusively - for the foreseeable future.
“Indian has grown into the clear No. 2 brand in our category,” he tells dealers. “Even taking over the No. 1 market share position in mid-size cruisers.”
That observation also suggests that Indian’s focus will be centred on the American market. It may still sell bikes in the UK and elsewhere, but the focus of their design will be on riders in the God-blessed US of A.
A few years ago, leaked documents showed that Indian was working on an adventure bike based on the FTR platform. It seems that’s the sort of thing that will now go the way of Harley-Davidson’s infamous Nova project.
Lastly, Harmon says that despite the disruption, Indian plans to make a big hullabaloo of its 125th anniversary, which occurs next year.
The Indian brand was established in 1901 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Its founder, George Hendee, walked away just 15 years later, after a disagreement with the company’s board of directors over future direction. The company went bust in 1953, then the name spent the next several decades being passed around and fought over by no less than 11 different companies or entities before finally coming to Polaris in 2011.
Harmon says details on Indian’s 125th anniversary celebrations will come soon.
“It’s going to be a celebration you won’t want to miss,” he writes. “Mark your calendars for January 22nd.”
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Chris Cope is a fourth-generation journalist, originally from Texas. He has lived in the UK for roughly two decades and has been writing about motorcycles for most of that time. He has written for dozens of publications and websites in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia.
