Indian Motorcycle is America’s first motorcycle company, created a year before main rival Harley-Davidson. Founded in 1901 in Springfield, Massachusetts, Indian Motorcycle is preparing to celebrate its 125th anniversary, but the brand has now officially entered a new chapter in its storied history – Carolwood LP has completed its acquisition of the historic brand from Polaris, making the brand’s transition into a fully independent company focussed exclusively on motorcycles.
Carolwood LP is an independent private equity firm founded in 2014 and headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Even though it is the first American motorcycle brand going back to 1901, the Indian brand lived in uncertainty for many years, before Polaris acquired it in 2011. Indian replaced Victory as the motorcycle brand under the Polaris family.
Now, the brand will be headed by Mike Kennedy, a motorcycle industry veteran with over 20 years in senior positions at Harley-Davidson, Vance & Hines and others. He described the development as both an honour and an opportunity “to drive the brand into the future with a renewed sense of commitment, focus and clarity that can only be found as a stand-alone company.”
Approximately 900 employees will transition into the new business, with Indian’s Iowa factory being included in the sale of business. An additional factory in Minnesota will also include production, with R&D facilities in the US and Europe. Of late, Indian Motorcycle has had very limited presence in India, where it was operating as part of the larger Polaris network. So far, it’s still not clear what Indian Motorcycle’s future India strategy will be like, or if there will be one at all.