"Trust Through Transparency"
That is how newly minted Indian Motorcycle CEO Mike Kennedy described the dealer relationship culture that he wants to build with Indian Motorcycle's international dealer network. As the company embarks on its brave new future as a standalone manufacturer, Robin Bradley interviewed Kennedy a couple of days after Los Angeles based Equity Investor Carolwood LP confirmed formal completion of a complex 80 percent ownership unwind from Polaris Industries …
It had been somewhat of an open secret that Polaris Industries was in the market to find new ownership for Indian Motorcycle. The rumors had been swirling since late 2024 and when the speculation disappeared off the industry radar in the spring of 2025, that was the customary 'tell' that something was happening and that NDAs and due diligence were underway.
Nonetheless, when the announcement finally came in October 2025 it still surprised many. The identity of the prospective Private Equity buyer - Carolwood LP of Los Angeles - had been kept carefully concealed, and that it was a Private Equity solution was a surprise.
When I described the move to Mike Kennedy as a "ballsy" play by Carolwood, he didn't disagree. It isn't just the size and sheer complexity of the Polaris unwind that made it noteworthy. It was as a Private Equity that it stood out. To my knowledge, and from the research I have been able to conduct, it has been historically rare - very rare - for Private Equity (private market investment of any kind) to buy active and growing motorcycle manufacturer - and the Indian-out-of-Polaris proposition certainly wasn't 'cookie cutter'.
"a ballsy play"
It's not as if Indian Motorcycle had fallen into the 'Distressed Asset' category. It has popular and respected models, and the kind of heritage and active enthusiast base that makes it a prime proposition. Many try to claim the kind of legacy that Indian has, but most fall short.
It's hard to think of any other genuine cases of motorcycle brands that enthusiasts would tattoo on their arms beyond Harley, Ducati, Moto Guzzi and Triumph.
This year will see Indian Motorcycle celebrate the 125th anniversary of the brand (in year that also sees Royal Enfield mark its own 1901 Origin Story) and, as our industry continues to lap its legacy, Ducati also scores its own "ton" in 2026.
When Kennedy answered the call in which Carolwood asked if he'd consider consulting on the proposed deal for them, and then, should it play-out, consider leading Indian Motorcycle as its new CEO - I got the impression that he allowed himself to enjoy the nanosecond it took him to weigh that one up before getting straight down to business.
The Kennedy career trajectory is one that has seemingly prepared him for this moment - it could almost have been destiny. The largest chunk of his working life was the 25 years or so he spent with Harley-Davidson, including time at the UK and European offices, and latterly, time spent (among other responsibilities) heading up Harley's racing relationship with Terry Vance of Vance & Hines fame, and finishing up as VP and Managing Director of The Americas - a big and complex job.
"all of the market's OEMs"
He then spent time as President of Vance & Hines. That was under what was left of the ultimately doomed Motorsport Aftermarket Group (MAG) Private Equity ownership, but he did engage Terry Vance as his Eminence Grise. Talking of PE, he also spent some time at BRP when Boston based Bain Capital controlled the check book.
Though he readily confesses to not being a retailer as such, his subsequent year or so as President at RumbleOn (now known as Ride Now) turned out to have destiny stamped all over it. It gave him valuable insight into how to operate a network of 50-plus dealerships ('roof-tops' as he referenced Ride Now's owned stores). Above all, insight into balancing the perennial and often competing tensions of helping to keep them profitable and grow unit sales. That won't have been time wasted and, interestingly, it gave him an insider dealer view of working with pretty much all of the market's motorcycle OEMs.
Kennedy said that one of the very first calls he made, once Carolwood had finalized the deal to buy Indian Motorcycle, was to Terry Vance. Time was short, and he needed to make the most of the relatively short time that was available to get Indian onto the 2026 Moto America King Of The Baggers grid with a three man 'Wrecking Crew' Indian Challenger-based effort.
It is not to be forgotten though that this will not be Kennedy's first rodeo where being on the OEM client end of a race relationship with Vance is concerned. Handy. Especially given the rather short time to get a team set-up, staffed and equipped before the tires spin for the first time at Daytona in March- just some five months since that first call.
"just five months since the first call"
The (multi-year) announcement came towards the end of November 2025. There is sweet irony in the circular nature of the deal of course, with Kennedy now seeking to take his Alma Mater's toys away from them. Just as Polaris Indian's then 'Wrecking Crew' iteration had also interrupted Harley's Flat Track XR750 hegemony with their FTR750 some years ago. That was when AMA racing sought to bring back and rebuild AFT racing after its wilderness years.
That came to an end in 2024 when AMA ProRacing announced that the Premier AFT SuperTwins class would be fully production bike based only from 2025 onwards. Ironically, in the absence of the Indian factory effort, it is starting to look very much like Harley is about to rule that roost again with former "Wrecker" Briar Bauman "bringing it back to Milwaukee" last year on the Rick Ware Racing Team H-D XG750R. It is shaping up to be a battle between Harley and Yamaha, with KTM and Royal Enfield competing to populate remaining podium places.
So, that brings us to where we are at now, in the spring of 2026, and, as ever, all is change. The all new Indian Challenger team that will now arrive at the grid in Daytona, will have the fingerprints of Terry Vance and his Brownsburg, Indiana based Vance & Hines Motorsports team all over a new three-man 'Wrecking Crew' effort.
Speaking of his prior relationship with Vance, it was clear that he recalls "those Days" with fondness. "Terry and I have laughed together at the Track, cried together, and fought together. We have won together and lost together. So, we know how each other thinks. We have always had a good working relationship and that has been of the utmost importance in getting a new 'KOTB' team together in so little time. It simply would not have been nearly as possible had we not already had a good understanding how we both think and what we both need from it in order to make the project a success."
I suspect that initial "success" will be measured by getting around the track in one piece and safely. Anything more that will put Indian and Vance & Hines deep into the bonus zone. This project has 'BIG ASK' writ large on it, but never, and I mean NEVER underestimate 'Da Vance'.
Kennedy outlined his initial four priorities for the newly independent 'Kennedy Era' Indian Motorcycle and yes, he's now destined/doomed to enter the brand's heritage as a 'Verb'. Just as 'Springfield' 'Gilroy', 'Kings Mountain' and 'Polaris' eras have all now passed into the legacy lexicon, now so too will 'Kennedy'.
If for no other reason that this is one of the first times that the industry will have seen a genuine Motorcycle Industry man, an experienced insider and a true rider with oil in the veins sat behind the handlebars of a motorcycle brand and factory.
"Indian is already the market share leader in the mid-displacement cruiser sector [with the Scout line-up] and our ambition has to be to build on that," says Kennedy. "To take that forward and make Indian Motorcycle the #1 brand in the mid and heavyweight cruisers, touring and bagger market." So yes, he is 'taking it' to Milwaukee!
"A second objective, a priority really, is to take the Indian Motorcycle brand into the Trike market - and soon." Beyond accepting that the present Indian range is probably too complex, too difficult for consumers to get their arms around and that there are probably too many models, this is the closest that Kennedy has come so far to saying anything definitive about upcoming model range plans.
"destiny stamped all over it"
"The trike market is both challenging and a natural fit for the Indian brand. It never has been before, but there is still untapped opportunity in that sector."
One other remark Kennedy made that it is worth noting at this stage concerns the Indian PowerPlus engine. "That is a great powerplant," he says. "Nobody should underestimate it and I have already been asked whether it has a future and whether we will stay in the air-cooled sector. The answer [for the foreseeable future at least] is yes. We have the engine, we have the motorcycles, they are compliant and we have the opportunity to make that segment our own for a long time yet."
His third priority, and one worth taking notice of, is that he says that under his management and with Carlwood's support, he intends that Indian Motorcycle should "lean into US manufacturing. The Spirit Lake, Iowa factory is awesome. We have good technology there and, above all, we have great people. An excellent combination of innovative engineering and experience with brand enthusiasm and a motivated production team that likes what they do and takes pride in doing it well.
"Polaris has manufacturing in Poland and Vietnam, and we are winding down Indian Motorcycle's involvements there in order to bring everything we do back to the United States. Other than our sales, marketing and management set-ups around the world, the only facility we will still have overseas will be the industrial design and technology center in Burgdorf, Switzerland - the business that was known as Swiss Auto when Polaris bought it in 2010.
"Spirit Lake in Iowa, the Monticello, Minesota machining and fabrication facility, and an administration office in Minneapolis will be our facilities in the United States. Monticello was part of the deal, we now own that, and Polaris are themselves looking to streamline their own operations as much as they can. As has been already announced, the powertrain operations facility at Osceola in Wisconsin will close by the end of 2026.
"We will bring engine production to the Spirit Lake factory - Integration will create considerable workflow efficiencies and cost benefits.
"At this point, let me just state for the record that we are full of admiration and appreciations for Polaris. Both as an owner of the Indian brand and as a collaborator in the deal to sell it to us.
"We've got nothing but good things to say about the job that Polaris has done with the Indian brand in their 15-years of ownership. They have been sensitive and stalwart stewards of the brand's legacy and engineering. They have also been a very good partner with whom to work what, by any measure, has been the unwind of a "highly entangled" situation.
"Indian Motorcycle was entirely integrated with Polaris and that has made Carolwood the ideal investor with who to do this deal. They established their Private Equity division some two years ago specifically to specialize in "highly entangled corporate unwinds". Something for which there is no play-book, with every deal different. The experience bank they have built-up in such undertakings has been invaluable."
However, given what has been going on with Harley-Davidson in the past five years, many will see Kennedy's fourth initial priority as the most important in the long-term - dealer relationships.
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| Spirit Lake, Iowa Production Director Jim Jensen (left) giving his new boss the more-than-just-standard 'Nickel Tour'! |
"We must base the relationship with our dealer network on 'Trust and Transparency' - that must be the basis of the bond between Indian Motorcycle and its dealers," he says. It's not that he is inheriting anything like the kind of issues seen in the Harley dealer network, he is categorically not doing so. But he is clear that he wants to "build the best relationship that any OEM motorcycle manufacturer of any kind, anywhere has with its dealers.
"That is fundamental. Our dealers must be our partners, and we want to be good partners with them. If we help them to do well, then they will work hard for us. Dealer profitability is essential and we are already working on ways we can enhance that.
"One of those is through better Parts and Accessory and Gear and Apparel offerings and inventory. Having now seen the world through an aftermarket lens as well as OEM - and the two industry views could not be more different - I intend that we should be able to work with the best-in-class that the aftermarket has to offer, as well as having our own authorized Indian Motorcycle programs, and have the product regularly and reliably available, quickly"
Asked if he saw a future in which Indian will throw its entire focus on stand-alone dealerships and what will now happen with the integration of the Indian brand in so many Polaris Powersports dealerships, Kennedy was clear. "All good dealers are just exactly that, good dealers. We have already had a very positive response from the powersports side of Indian's existing dealer network; there is a great deal of excitement and enthusiasm for the future that we will be able to shape together.
"But we will also, of course, work diligently with those stores that are 100 percent dedicated to our brand alone - they are just as important and moving forward I would be happy to see a mixed portfolio of both to continue to evolve.
"Lean into US manufacturing"
"We do not have a problem with the multi-brand model at all. In fact, it has advantages. We do not intend to follow Harley and other manufacturers down the budget price entry level Rabbit Hole. I don’t believe that one dealer format is necessarily better than another. It really comes down to supporting the dealers and what’s best for them, regardless of whether or not they sell Indian Motorcycles exclusively. If a store owner wants to work with additional brands and offer a variety, that’s great. Or if the dealer for an alternate brand wants to also work with Indian, that’s also great. We want to be successful, by working to help our dealers be successful. That’s the bottom line.
"If it's good for the dealer and is good for consumers in that local riding market, then how can it not also be good for us? Its all bout doorswings and brand pathways. The more riders are exposed to what the Indian brand can mean for them, even if it is in their riding future, then the better it is for the long-term health of the Indian brand."
Asked if he is targeting 'conquest' customer strategies as the primary growth channel, Kennedy said "No. Certainly not primarily. In the segments that Harley and Indian compete, it is up to both of us to be the best we can be. Do I intend for Indian to be the better option for riders? You bet I do. Our ambition is to win and ultimately be the #1 brand in those segments. In fact, we just signed on with a Harley dealer in Pennsylvania. I have no problem with doing that and having our products stand toe-to-toe on the showroom floor with theirs.
"Our job is to be part of the industry wide effort to excite and attract consumers to the motorcycle market and its lifestyle. To help dealers build great local businesses that their community wants to engage with, and to build the Indian brand's future by making sure it has other great anniversaries to celebrate long after we have all served our time.
"If we can have some fun and success on the racetrack as part of doing that, if we can successfully honor he Indian Motorcycle brand's racing legacy, maybe add some of our own chapters to that heritage, then great. Everyone wins if 'The Wrecking Crew' wins."
