Indian to restructure Aus/NZ business

In an announcement on 10 January, Alan Collins, Indian Motorcycle’s Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand, said the corporate-owned stores were the right way to go when the brand was launched here in 2008, but the coming changes will provide more opportunities for the brand’s growth in the future.

“We have big and bold goals as we look to grow the Indian Motorcycle brand in this market. Moving to an independent franchised network of dealers is more sustainable for us and our partners as we look to grow in order to meet demand, while also enabling a broader network of support and options for our customers,” Collins said.

“We anticipate no interruption to sales or customer service during this transition. It will remain business as usual at our company-owned stores in the interim while we bring new dealer partners onboard.”

There are no indications that the four company-owned Indian dealership sites – in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Brisbane – would be offered to future or existing Indian dealers.

Despite closing four dealerships, Collins says Indian plans to double its dealer network in Australia and New Zealand within the next two years.

With only 803 new Indians sold in Australia in 2019 (Harley sold 6,462 new motorcycles locally in the same period), that expansion will be essential if Indian are to challenge Harley-Davidson’s position in the Australian road bike market.

The announcement of the Australian dealership restructure follows recent departures by Peter Alexander and Nigel Harvey, both senior Polaris executives in Australia.