Interview with Victory's president

[Richard230]

Motorcycle Consumer News, in their September issue, starting on page 22, has published an interview with Steve Menneto, the president of the Victory and Indian motorcycle companies.  In this two-page interview, Mr. Menneto mentions electric vehicles one time as follows:

'With electric vehicles, we're going to be right in the thick of things leading, instead of going, "Holy cow, what the heck happened?" and then go crazy trying to catch up.  You don't want to be sitting on the sidelines while it drives by you.'

I am not quite sure what this statement means with regard to electric motorcycles, but that is the quote.   

[Brammofan]

I hope it means they will be, at the very least, updating the Empulse platform.

[roma258]

I read the article, mostly corporate boilerplate tbh. I had really high hopes for the victory brand when Polaris took on Indian as their heritage cruiser line. So far it's been a big letdown.

[jazz999]

I agree - big let down.  Little promotion, over-priced, little change, no direction.....recipe for failure I see

[Shinysideup]

Yeah, I think everyone thought that once it got in showrooms of a large dealer network, that sales would increase. But IMHO, there's factors in two areas that are against adoption: the macro EV picture and the moto-specific culture, especially in the U.S.

For the macro picture, this article that first appeared in the Wall St. Journal shows that things may be about to change:

http://www.fxtribune.com/business/why-electric-cars-will-be-here-sooner-than-you-think-h224424.html

My sense of the U.S. cultural factor is that most bike sales are for recreational purposes, not for utilitarian ones. And electric bikes (unless you're racing them) just don't have the range that buyers want to take on a road trip or ride in the twisties on the weekends. Here, in the San Francisco Bay Area, that is beginning to change as increasingly number of riders are commuting to work, but we're probably an aberration?

Certainly, at the price point that Victory has chosen, there are so many more attractive ICE choices for the recreational/occasional rider. Heck, I'm a big fan of my Empulse, yet I recently bought a FJ-09 for longer trips.

My hope is that enough potential customers can at least test ride the Empulse TT in Victory showrooms so they get a taste (thrill!) of what riding electric feels like. If the price can come down or the range can go up or if gasoline prices start rising, then....

[MichaelJ]

My hope is that enough potential customers can at least test ride the Empulse TT in Victory showrooms so they get a taste (thrill!) of what riding electric feels like.

To help with this, I have invited my local Victory dealership to attend the local National Drive Electric Week event next weekend.  Hopefully, they will bring their Empulse TT for show and tell and test rides.  Likely not, but it is worth a try.

What are your NDEW plans?