Challenger

Does Indian Motorcycle Have a Harley-Davidson Problem?

by Rich Duprey from https://www.fool.com/ Sales remained aloft longer than its rival, but now even its sales are falling. As much as falling motorcycle sales at Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG) have been attributed to its core customer aging out of the market while the next generation of riders seems uninterested in buying the big bikes it produces, Indian Motorcycle sidestepped most of the same pitfalls even though it produces many of the same kinds of motorcycles as Harley does. Since being resurrected from bankruptcy by Polaris Industries (NYSE:PII) and returned to the market in 2014, Indian has been a steady performer with retail sales often rising in the double-digit percentages. That has allowed it to steal market share from Harley, whose sales often contracted at similar percentages. Yet with Polaris’ third-quarter earnings report released last month, investors may have to accept that Indian Motorcycle now has its own Harley-Davidson problem. A worsening sales decline Polaris Industries is not transparent at all when it comes to telling you how its motorcycle business is performing. Where Harley breaks down sales and shipments by geographic region and type of motorcycle, Polaris provides vague percentage increases or declines, maybe calling out a model once in a while, but never giving investors any real insight into how Indian’s various motorcycles are performing. What we do know is that despite double- and even triple-digit sales growth early on, Indian Motorcycle sales are now quickly spiraling down. Even as Polaris obscures the actual numbers, a mid-teen-percentage decline in retail sales that far eclipses the contraction of the broader motorcycle market suggests that this is becoming a big problem for the bike maker. Worse, the downdraft is accelerating. In the second quarter, Polaris said Indian retail sales were down by almost 10%, while in the first quarter they were down […]

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Harley-Davidson’s stock falls after KeyBanc turns bearish, citing competition from Polaris’s Challenger bike

Shares of Harley-Davidson Inc. HOG, -1.22% fell 0.7% in morning trading Monday, after KeyBanc Capital analyst Brett Andress turned bearish on the motorcycle maker, citing concerns over competition from Polaris Inc.’s PII, +1.85% Indian brand of bikes. Andress cut his rating on Harley’s stock to underweight, after being at sector weight since August 2017, and set his price target at $33, which is 15.5% below current levels. “Indian’s new Challenger bike is aimed squarely at [Harley’s] dominant Road Glide ([about] 80% share of 32K-unit market),” Andress wrote in a note to clients. “Indian introduced the Challenger bike on Oct. 29 to immediate fanfare and, on paper, the bike surpasses its competition in almost every important metric (primarily a new liquid-cooled engine), a setup we view as likely to disrupt a rather complacent status quo.” Polaris’s stock rose 0.9% in morning trading. Andress estimates the new competition could drive an earnings-per-share headwind of about 25 cents. Harley’s stock has rallied 14.5% year to date, while Polaris shares have surged 30.4% and the S&P 500 SPX, +0.37% has gained 23.0%.

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Introducing the new Challenger Line-up

The Ultimate combination of Performance, Comfort and Technology. Dominating passing power from our all-new, liquid-cooled PowerPlus V-twin engine. All-day comfort from a chassis-mounted fairing and power adjustable windscreen. Next-level riding experience with Smart Lean Technology™ and new Ride Command system with real-time traffic and weather overlays. Explore this line-up https://www.indianmotorcycle.com/en-us/baggers/ Challenge everything you know about American motorcycles with best-in-class performance, comfort, and technology all wrapped in distinctive, aggressive styling. Take Your Indian Challenger to the next level by adding Authentic Accessories from the new Rogue and Tour Collections. Pack up. Ride out. Get the room you need without sacrificing the style you want. Any Indian Motorcycle bagger is a great choice for wherever the day takes you. Indian Motorcycle unveils its new Challenger to Harley heavyweight by David Schuyler from https://www.bizjournals.com Indian Motorcycle has revealed its newest model for 2020 — the Indian Challenger – and it’s likely to look very familiar to many Harley-Davidson riders. The Indian Challenger comes in three variants, the Challenger, Challenger Dark Horse and Challenger Limited, with base prices of $21,999, $27,499 and $27,999, respectively. Indian, the vintage motorcycle brand that Medina, Minnesota-based parent company Polaris Inc. has positioned as an alternative to the heavyweights from Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG), teased the new motorcycle last week when it released details on the new PowerPlus engine that’s at the heart of the Challenger. With its big liquid-cooled, 108-cubic-inch V-twin power plant, Indian’s newest model is perhaps the brand’s deepest incursion yet into Harley-Davidson’s market. And there’s one big reason to look at it that way, Even before Tuesday’s official roll-out, more than one motorsports industry writer compared some earlier leaked images of the Challenger to Harley-Davidson’s Road Glide, a big touring bike that represented a sizable portion of the sales mix for Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson Inc. back

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