Victory closes shop, now what
Posted by Ben Baker on Feb 5th 2017
| What's going to happen to the Victory Motorcycle line now that Polaris is shutting down production? |
| The short answer is it's going away. Some bikes will become collector's items, a remnant of a time gone by. Some bikes will just wear out and be recycled. |
| The medium-length answer is, it depends. Polaris Industry's decision to shut down the Victory line can yet be reversed. Polaris may restart production in the future. The Victory line can be sold to another company. |
| Is any of this likely? Not really. Rebooting a shut down production line is unlikely. Motorcycle.com has a short list of companies that produced motorcycles (admittedly some companies not listed in the article produced junk) and shut down. They have not come back. |
| Of the available options, the most likely choice for Victory comeback is based on the history of the manufacturing world. Someone will buy the Victory name and resume production. Which brings us to the long answer. |
| COMEBACK KIDS |
| Some companies have come back by being bought out. Triumph is often listed a company that rose from the grave without becoming a zombie. The truth is Triumph never completely folded quite in the way Victory expects to. "That year (1983) Triumph finally went into receivership after struggling to compete with the big Japanese manufacturers: Bloor (John Bloor) bought the name from the Official Receiver and licensed it to a small factory in the West Country. For the next seven years he seemed to do nothing at all with his once-fabled marque, but he had a plan," writes the Daily Mail. |
| Triumph also got something any comeback company needs. Money and people who believed. "… the cast of characters involved includes Tony Benn, Tom Cruise and a reclusive, self-made multi-millionaire who took a £200 million punt on a broken company and won," the Daily Mailreports. |
| GONE BUT… |
| Don't start pounding nails into Victory's coffin just yet. "Polaris … will continue to supply parts and service for 10 years and honor warranty coverage accordingly," the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported in January. |
| Also, don't read too much into that statement. As of right now parent company Polaris is keeping the Indian line of bikes up and running, another "return from the grave" story. Making parts for the Victory line won't be that difficult. Some Indian and Victory parts are interchangeable. |
| Since Polaris is staying in the scooter production business, Victory could easily come back if market conditions improve. |
| IN THE MEANTIME |
| When this article was written in late January, the Victory website was up and running and gave mixed messages. On the company history page, Victory appears to be going ahead as if nothing has happened. The timeline for Victory ends with 2015 but also adds, "We're never slowing down." This page also has two sliding image links. One says "IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT". That takes you to the announcement that Victory is shutting down. |
| FOR THE VICTORY OWNERS |
| If you own a Victory, you've got to be wondering, "Now what?" |
| Easy enough. Ride on. Get in the saddle, burn some gas and wear out some tires. Treat your ride with respect and it will get you where you need to go. When the time comes to find a new scooter, then look for people who collect Victory motorcycles. Someone out there will have a collection and would love to add your ride to their garage. With cash in hand, find another bike and ride on. |
| Alternatively, become a collector yourself. Retire that Victory except for special occasions and crank it every so often to keep things from seizing. Look for buys when other riders do trade-ins. For the next few years, prices on used Victory bikes should be pretty good. |