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Indian Motorcycle reports rapid growth

Indian Scout Bobber European

Indian Motorcycle has reported rapid growth of 42% outside of North America in the first quarter of 2018.

While its American parent company Polaris did not provide exact sales numbers, it was a remarkable result when compatriot Harley-Davidson recorded a 7.2% drop global sales in the same quarter.

Polaris motorcycle sales were up 9.3% to $131.6 million which was offset by a decreased in the three-wheeler Slingshot.

The company blames a cold and wet spring in North America for putting a dampener on sales growth.

Rapid growth

However, outside North America the company reported a rapid 42% growth in motorcycle sales.

In Australia, Indian motorcycle did even better with a reported 47.4% increase, albeit on low figures, up just 73 units to 227.

Still, Indian Motorcycle is on the rise as Harley seems to be on the sales slide.

The big sellers for Indian have been the Scout and new Scout Bobber.

Indian Scout Bobber pricing rapid
Indian Scout Bobber

There is also talk of a production version of the Scout FTR1200 flat tracker coming to the market sometime this year to appeal to young hipsters.

The company has also hired the former hipster designer from BMW, so we can expect even more hipster Indian models.

Polaris results

Polaris reported a gross profit of $16.6 million from motorcycles in the quarter, compared with a loss of $19.8 million in the same quarter in 2017.

However, much of the profit loss last year was due to the closure this time last year of their Victory Motorcycles brand.Victory Motorcycles-1998 book history rapid

Apparently it cost Polaris $80-$90 million to dispose of assets, cancel supplier agreements and support Victory dealers to sell remaining bikes.