spence
09-09-2004, 02:09 PM
I'm going to put these in my daily blogs starting in October so all of you fine folks don't have to sift through these in the forum.
September 9th 2004
by Rob Spencer
Indian Motorcycles rising from the dead?
Perhaps some of you caught the article on line about the resurrection of Indian Motorcycles by the Stellican Group on Americanmotor.com. If you didn’t here is a link to the article
http://www.americanmotor.com/news.cfm?newsid=2259
I can’t help but wonder if Stellican can pull off what others have attempted to do in the past, revive a classic American motorcycle brand to it’s former glory. For over 50 years Indian and Harley-Davidson battled for supremacy in the American heavy cruiser market. Both achieve an almost iconic following among motorcycle enthusiasts until Indian’s premature demise in 1953.
Indian and Indian branded motorcycles made brief resurrections before, once in the mid 50’s and again in the mid 70’s I remember distinctly the attempt to bring some type of Indian back to the market in the early 1970’s. I was but a mere pup then and had a great interest in small to mid sized bikes. A local dealer who dabbled in Ducati , BSA and Triumphs had imported about 5 of the new “Indians” They were 100-250 cc models made by an Italian manufacturer with the classic Indian logo on the tank. I loved these little bikes, they were two cycle, very quick, austere and easy to handle. It was a no-frills ride.
These were great little bikes, but nothing could be further form the legendary big twin Chief or the styling of the Scout. What Indian really needed at the time, a big twin American styled v-twin, they could not produce, and the brand faded again into obscurity.
It was not until late 1998 that a group of investors based in Gilroy, California were able to come back into the big cruiser market. Models at first were simply Harley knock offs with a home made frame and S&S parts. It was not until late 2002 with the hand built Power-Plus engine before Indian could really claim that they were back from the dead.
Despite all the best efforts of the folks at Gilroy, all of the great styling, engineering, marketing, they could not keep this classic American Brand afloat. Dealers complained of lack of customer support, lack of consistent product and a high price tag relative to the market. Indian filed for bankruptcy and all of its assets were liquidated in the fall of 2003.
I’m wondering how Stellican can achieve success where others have failed. Apparently Stellican has had some experience with this in the past, with Chris Craft boats. Chris Craft another iconic American Brand was floundering in debt before Stellican bought them four years ago. Now Chris Craft is once again one of the premier American boat builders in world.
Can Stellican do an encore performance with Indian? Can Stellican succeed and rebuild this classic American brand? Can they avoid all the same pitfalls and strewn carcasses of Indians past? With the right marketing, engineering, sales force and customer support, anything is possible.
September 9th 2004
by Rob Spencer
Indian Motorcycles rising from the dead?
Perhaps some of you caught the article on line about the resurrection of Indian Motorcycles by the Stellican Group on Americanmotor.com. If you didn’t here is a link to the article
http://www.americanmotor.com/news.cfm?newsid=2259
I can’t help but wonder if Stellican can pull off what others have attempted to do in the past, revive a classic American motorcycle brand to it’s former glory. For over 50 years Indian and Harley-Davidson battled for supremacy in the American heavy cruiser market. Both achieve an almost iconic following among motorcycle enthusiasts until Indian’s premature demise in 1953.
Indian and Indian branded motorcycles made brief resurrections before, once in the mid 50’s and again in the mid 70’s I remember distinctly the attempt to bring some type of Indian back to the market in the early 1970’s. I was but a mere pup then and had a great interest in small to mid sized bikes. A local dealer who dabbled in Ducati , BSA and Triumphs had imported about 5 of the new “Indians” They were 100-250 cc models made by an Italian manufacturer with the classic Indian logo on the tank. I loved these little bikes, they were two cycle, very quick, austere and easy to handle. It was a no-frills ride.
These were great little bikes, but nothing could be further form the legendary big twin Chief or the styling of the Scout. What Indian really needed at the time, a big twin American styled v-twin, they could not produce, and the brand faded again into obscurity.
It was not until late 1998 that a group of investors based in Gilroy, California were able to come back into the big cruiser market. Models at first were simply Harley knock offs with a home made frame and S&S parts. It was not until late 2002 with the hand built Power-Plus engine before Indian could really claim that they were back from the dead.
Despite all the best efforts of the folks at Gilroy, all of the great styling, engineering, marketing, they could not keep this classic American Brand afloat. Dealers complained of lack of customer support, lack of consistent product and a high price tag relative to the market. Indian filed for bankruptcy and all of its assets were liquidated in the fall of 2003.
I’m wondering how Stellican can achieve success where others have failed. Apparently Stellican has had some experience with this in the past, with Chris Craft boats. Chris Craft another iconic American Brand was floundering in debt before Stellican bought them four years ago. Now Chris Craft is once again one of the premier American boat builders in world.
Can Stellican do an encore performance with Indian? Can Stellican succeed and rebuild this classic American brand? Can they avoid all the same pitfalls and strewn carcasses of Indians past? With the right marketing, engineering, sales force and customer support, anything is possible.