Indian Motorcycle, one of America’s oldest and coolest motorcycle brands, has seen its name passed from owner to owner for decades. Now, it’s time for Indian to fall into the hands of a new caretaker once more. The brand, once the pride of Polaris Inc., has been spun off into a standalone company. But that’s not all, as Polaris also sold a majority stake in Indian Motorcycle to Carolwood LP, a private equity firm. Here’s what’s happening with one of America’s favorite purveyors of fast cruiser motorcycles.
Back in 2011, Polaris, which was then known as the brand for snowmobiles, side-by-sides, and the owner of Victory motorcycles, decided to do something big by reviving Indian Motorcycle. The marque, which had spent much of its original history as Harley-Davidson’s biggest rival, was more of a niche player. Polaris rebooted Indian again and launched new bikes in 2013.
Since then, Indian has risen to become the number two producer of American motorcycles in certain segments and number one in mid-size cruisers. Indian has produced some epic motorcycles in that time, like the FTR, a bike I still consider to be America’s best and coolest motorcycle, and the Challenger Dark Horse, a love letter to big cruisers. Now, it’s time for Indian to open another chapter in its history as it mostly separates from Polaris and back into the hands of private equity. Yeah, this isn’t Indian’s first rodeo with private equity. Let’s talk about it.
A Primer
I think to truly understand the situation that Indian is in right now, we should take a look at how the brand got here. Indian has not been as lucky as Harley-Davidson to have existed continuously for over a century. Instead, the brand has come and gone and has been passed around to vastly different owners over time.
Here’s some of Indian’s story from my previous reporting:
It was founded in 1901 by George M. Hendee with engineer Oscar Hedstrom. This technically makes Indian two years older than Harley-Davidson, which kicked off its colorful history in 1903. Indian, like Harley, was a trailblazer in developing America’s rich motorcycle culture. The Hendee Manufacturing Company, as it was called back then, was a serious contender in motorcycle racing. Hedstrom rode one of his motorcycles to a speed record of 56 miles per hour. He also won an endurance race from New York City to Springfield, Massachusetts, which was then home of Hendee Manufacturing. The company was known for its record-setting stunts back then.
The Hendee Manufacturing Company, as it was called back then, was a serious contender in motorcycle racing. Hedstrom rode one of his motorcycles to a speed record of 56 miles per hour. He also won an endurance race from New York City to Springfield, Massachusetts, which was then home of Hendee Manufacturing. The company was known for its record-setting stunts back then.
In 1906, a Hendee dealer pair rode an Indian motorcycle from San Francisco to New York City in a record-setting 31 days, apparently not suffering any mechanical problems along the way. The Indian factory team swept the podium in the 1911 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, Ed Kretz won the first Daytona 200 race in 1937, and in the early 1950s, the company had a team of dominant dirt and road racers. These were the days when motorcycle manufacturers sold bikes by proving how fast and durable they were.
Unfortunately, Indian went into a period of steep decline after World War II before failing in 1953. By my count, the Indian name and its trademarks would then get passed through at least nine or 10 owners from 1953 to 2003. Efforts to keep the brand alive have involved everything from importing Royal Enfields and Honda mopeds to even rebadging a go-kart.
In 2006, Stellican Limited, a private equity firm based in London, tried to correct the madness with its launch of the Indian Motorcycle Company in 2006. Stellican’s schtick was reviving dead brands that had valuable names. The firm was most proud of bringing back Chris-Craft boats and the Outboard Motor Corporation.
Polaris would right the ship after nearly a dozen caretakers. I have ridden many of Indian’s products during the Polaris era, and what Indian has achieved in such a short time is remarkable. Today’s Indians are often faster than Harleys and with cooler technology and more horsepower.
So, I hope that Indian’s new caretakers are not about to ruin that.
Indian Leaves Polaris
On October 13, Polaris made an unexpected announcement:
[Polaris] today announced its decision to separate Indian Motorcycle (“the Business”) from its portfolio and into a standalone business. The Company has entered into a definitive agreement to sell a majority stake in Indian Motorcycle to Carolwood LP, an independent private equity firm founded in 2014 and headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Indian Motorcycle contributed approximately $478 million, or 7.0%, of Polaris’ revenues for the trailing twelve-month period ended June 30, 2025.
Upon close, the transaction is expected to be accretive to Polaris’ annualized adjusted EBITDA by approximately $50 million and to adjusted earnings per share (“EPS”) by approximately $1.00. The close of the transaction is expected to occur in the first quarter of 2026, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of customary closing conditions. Polaris is confident in Indian Motorcycle’s future success under Carolwood ownership and will maintain a small equity position in the Business after the transaction closes. Additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Polaris and Indian Motorcycle both stand to benefit from this deal, which will enable each business to move faster, deliver industry-leading innovation, and lean further into our respective market strengths,” said Polaris Chief Executive Officer Mike Speetzen. “For Polaris, the sale will further strengthen our focus on the areas of our portfolio that offer the strongest growth potential and allow us to accelerate investments in key initiatives and create wins with customers and dealers. It also will unlock greater long-term value for Polaris and our shareholders, with immediate value creation that we expect will become increasingly meaningful over time.”
Approximately 900 employees will transfer from Polaris to the spun-off Indian, and Indian will retain the same engineers, designers, design facility in Burgdorf, Switzerland, and manufacturing facilities in Spirit Lake, Iowa, and Monticello, Minnesota, that it had under Polaris. According to details about the deal, Polaris will maintain a small equity position in Indian.
Indian currently employs over 1,000 people, and it’s currently unclear how many jobs will be affected by the transition.
This deal is supposed to enable Polaris to chase sales in its core off-road segments. The personal watercraft, ATV, and UTV (side-by-side) markets have been struggling for a while. As RideApart reported in October 2024, the powersports market experienced a two-year downturn, and for pretty much the same reason why RV sales had fallen so dramatically during the same window of time. People went on a side-by-side buying frenzy during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to have fun without getting sick. But as soon as more traditional vacation venues fully reopened, people went back to doing what they did before.
The UTV market began recovering in late 2024, but, as RideApart noted in a different piece, Polaris was in a rough position. When the company released its earnings report in October 2024, Polaris indicated that its profits plunged 82 percent compared to the year before. Polaris pointed fingers at unease over the 2024 presidential election, high interest rates, and just general consumer confidence about buying expensive toys in the current economy.
As UTV Driver reported in August 2025, things have been looking better for Polaris lately. In Q2 2025, the brand reported a dip in total sales and a drop in profit, but the off-road vehicle unit increased sales by one percent year-over-year. Sure, that’s not much, but it is a trend in the right direction after that bludgeoning in 2024. So, it seems pretty clear here that Polaris really wants to hone in on the side-by-sides and other off-road vehicles, and leave Indian to figure out its own path forward.
The Future Of Indian
Polaris says that Indian Motorcycle will now be an independent brand, but it’ll be under the control of Carolwood LP. The private equity firm says this about itself:
Carolwood LP is a fully integrated real estate and private equity firm founded in 2014 by principals Andrew Shanfeld and Adam Rubin. We acquire and manage a diverse portfolio of properties and companies with meaningful potential for repositioning and growth. Driven by an entrepreneurial mindset, Carolwood builds lasting value for our investors, our partners, and the communities we serve.
Carolwood says that it has never sold an asset it has purchased, and it has a knack for investing in consumer, industrial, media, and technology companies, specifically with revenues between $50 million and $500 million. Carolwood’s brands include sports substack Jomboy Media, real estate media platform Estate, Zab’s Hot Sauce, and a handful of small restaurant operations. Indian will likely be Carolwood’s biggest brand.
Thankfully, Carolwood had made a positive early move by installing a motorcycle guy as CEO. Mike Kennedy will lead Indian into its future. Kennedy used to be the CEO of motorcycle dealer platform RumbleOn as well as President of famed motorcycle accessory company Vance & Hines. In his past, he spent 26 years at Harley-Davidson, eventually rising to the rank of Vice President and Managing Director of Americas from 2010 to 2017. Kennedy was also Vice President of Sales at BRP from 2006 to 2008.
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026 and at first, nothing much will change on the customer-facing side. As I noted earlier, most Indian employees will transfer from being employed by Polaris to being employed by Indian. The company will also continue selling its motorcycles and merch like it currently does.
As for the future of Indian, Carolwood says:
“Indian Motorcycle is an iconic brand built on American heritage, craftsmanship, and most importantly, a community of riders,” said Andrew Shanfeld, Principal at Carolwood. “We’re honored to help usher in its next chapter as an independent company and to support its continued growth as a symbol of performance and pride. At Carolwood, we target iconic brands that we can passionately impact. Indian Motorcycle allows us to do just that.”
Adam Rubin, Principal at Carolwood, said, “Indian Motorcycle has defined American motorcycling for over a century, and Carolwood’s role is to ensure that legacy thrives for the next hundred years. Mike Kennedy brings over 30 years of experience leading iconic motorcycle and performance brands and will play a critical role in stewarding Indian Motorcycle’s growth. At Carolwood, we’re deeply committed to preserving what makes Indian Motorcycle special, supporting its growth, and empowering the team to write its next great chapter.”
I think what’s perhaps the most shocking about this news is that nobody really expected it to come. Sure, Indian drove only 7 percent of Polaris’ total revenues, but Polaris seemed to be a pretty good caretaker for the storied brand. I know I had to do a double-take when I saw the news on the wire.
It will be interesting to see how this change will impact the future of Indian. I sincerely hope that this means we get more awesome motorcycles. I also really hope that things don’t go belly up, as often happens when private equity gets involved in a beloved brand. We’ve seen too many great names ruined after private equity has gotten involved, including Red Lobster, Green Car Reports, Motor Authority, The Car Connection, Donut Media, Hoonigan, Autoblog, and so many more. Even LKQ is now under a private equity umbrella.
This is not to be mean or disparage anyone. I don’t really roll like that. But other firms have set an unfortunate precedent. So, it’s fair to wonder what’s going to happen to Indian. It’s too early to tell, but we’re rooting for Indian. For now, it looks like business will roll on as usual. Let’s hope things stay that way.
Polaris wouldn’t have sold Indian if it was a moneymaker for them. I think letting an Indian company buy Indian Motorcycle almost makes sense. They seem to be trying to build bikes riders can afford to purchase. I don’t think we need two dresser bike companies in the United States. Wonder if I’ll be able to get parts for my Scout?
If you watch the “greed is good” speech in Wall Street you can see the historic justification for LBOs and PE to remake companies. But that kind of bloat and mismanagement does not really exist anymore. At the same time there are significantly less opportunities to remake companies for big returns, PE has more money than ever, especially because of the Covid waste fraud and abuse, especially PPP, although I believe new investment is down in the last year, which is why they are trying to get backdoor access to unsophisticated investors.
There is no Harvard MBA “one simple trick” to somehow get double digit returns out of Indian. It is now an established brand with saturation in its primary market.
One of the Indian manufacturers would have had a lot more “synergy”, with Indian providing large displacement motorcycles and an iconic brand while the Indian buyer could combine that with access to global markets and manufacturing, along with smaller displacement models for global markets.
But they don’t have money to throw around/light on fire like the PE firms do.
HD did dirty when they killed off Buell.
Maybe Indian can bring it back.
A big lumpy V-Twin in a sport bike chassis is the chef’s kiss.
Fingers crossed things go well
Private equity isn’t always bad, it just ends up that 95% of the time the purchased company’s goals and the investor’s goals don’t align and it turns really bad. I doubt that Aston Martin, Lotus, and countless others would still be around if it wasn’t for private investment. By not having external investors you don’t need to provide quarterly earnings reports and get trapped chasing the share price. It makes it easier to position the company for a position of long term growth at the expense of a year or two of losses, and overall plan long-term. Rarely does this happen though as the PE firms are also looking for a short(ish) return on investment.
The flip side and what raises red flags to me is that in all of their descriptions of the company real estate comes first. That’s the easiest route to gut the company, sell the name, and then profit from the property they own.
“Stick to motorcycles.”
RIP Indian Motorcycles. We don’t need a whole section on “The Future of Indian” – Private Equity is like the Midas Touch, but instead of gold, everything turns to shit.
I was surprised when Polaris took on Indian. It’s so far outside of their purview, that it just seemed like a bad fit. Kudos to Polaris for tuning Indian from an (almost) zombie brand back into something valuable, then selling it to put more cash into their core products.
On another note, I just learned that Victory was another Polaris brand, one they allowed to wither several years ago. I think that bikes like the Victory, Indian, and even H-D are just on the wane as the sort of folks who desire (and can afford) those types of motorcycles are aging out of the riding population. I rarely see any of them ridden by anyone much under 40.
The Victory bikes were mighty interesting (40° V-twin engine, also check out the Victory Vision) but never made the sales numbers they needed to be viable. I feel like Indian was their do-over on Victory, and they did well by this.
I know it’s just how the world works now, but every time I read the word “brand” it’s like taking a flaming shot of loose diarrhea.
Everything is just another level of marketing horse shit to manipulate our feelings of nostalgia or prestige. Thanks Mad Men!
Marketing is 100% about manipulating consumer behavior. But it does have some upside. The vast majority of product design and features exist because the companies wanted to make them easier to market. Everything from a ’63 Corvette to a VW GTI is what it is primarily due to marketing and the company’s desire to manipulate consumers.
The current issue is that companies have so much data on people that they can manipulate consumer behavior, often at the expense of product quality. The whole enshitification trend is due to an exponential increase in data asymmetry and the imbalance of power that it creates between corporations and consumers. But that is an internet-driven phenomenon more than just marketing.
Speaking of brands – just because something is labelled with a brand does not mean the brand has much to do with it. A couple of days ago I saw a flatbed truck on the highway with boxes of new merchandise loaded in the back, one of which was a gun safe. Printed on the box was “Label: Browning”. The safe was made in Vietnam or China (from the appearance of the printed text and the recycled cardboard box), so most likely is also sold with other brand labels on it. This information is a little off topic, but it’s like the Indian moped in the article – it has very little to do with the product itself other than evoking the reputation of the brand.
Indian has been problematic for Polaris for years and I think now it’s wrong product wrong time so I can understand why they wanted out. Getting rid of victory to go all in on Indian was a bit of questionable decision. The thing I really don’t understand about the deal is two manufacturing facilities being included in the deal. If they don’t fit what Polaris expects to need in the future maybe but otherwise being the contact manufacturer might have been a better deal for them and then being able to bring back victory if there was reason to.
I think it would be ironic if this private equity firm eventually sells Indian Motorcycles to a company like Mahindra or Bajaj.
I mean, selling Indian to an Indian motorcycle brand would be both hilarious and interesting. Bajaj, Royal Enfield, etc are absolutely killing it right now. 🙂
Please let this happen.
I came here to say this but you beat me to it: One of the major Indian motorcycle manufacturers would have made a lot more sense than a PE firm.
Nothing good comes from PE
My first thought as well.
Private equity caused the inciting event in Pretty Woman, so it’s not all bad.
Remember all the good that Cerberus did for Chrysler when MB wanted out…
About the only time I can think of where private equity saved a brand was when Texas Pacific Group bought Ducati and that was 25 years ago.
Load the company with massive debt, pay that out to the owners as dividends, strip the assets and sell them off, let the company go bankrupt
That’s the usual playbook
> So, I hope that Indian’s new caretakers are not about to ruin that.
Oh, have I got bad news for you about private equity…
I am simultaneously shocked by two things:
1) That somehow Polaris pulls in ~$2 billion more than Harley Davidson selling mediocre UTVs and a weirdo little semi-car
2) Just how small the Indian brand is. $500 Million in revenue in a year really isn’t that much for a company with 1,000 employees. Harley Davidson was pulling in almost 10x the revenue compared to the Indian brand
UTV / sxs and ATVs are where the money is in the US right now. You can buy a brand new kei truck cheaper then a UTV from the big brands in most cases now. They have become something everyone thinks they need if the have land. People that go hunting 1 to a few times a year will have them too just because. It’s quite a strange thing. A truck and maybe a dirt bike or dual sport was all anyone needed 30 years ago.
Which is why the National Powersports Dealer Association is the #1 contributor to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, i.e., the folks trying to ban kei cars.
They are still mad about the roxor too. They should focus on getting that road legal instead. The new kei trucks aren’t road legal either but I guess there are always ways.
The first time I saw a sxs with a plate I took a double take I wouldn’t doubt they are paying more for that then the banning of kei its just in their interest to also ban them.
They are also selling the stupid things to people like those in my neighborhood of one acre lots, apparently so they can drive them to the backyard once a summer, or maybe take the kids on a cruise around the neighborhood for kicks. These things cost more than any car I’ve ever bought. How is everyone wealthy but me it seems.
Our town set up an ordinance saying they’re drivable within city limits, and suddenly at least a dozen mid to high net-worth families went out to buy a new one as an in-town errand-running machine. They actually look kind of fun running around, but knowing what they cost it’s obvious they’ve simply became the latest status-symbol for that group.
The cool thing about that ordinance is that it applies to about anything with four wheels, so if I ever decided to get a kei-truck I can instantly start driving it around even without plates.
I can understand the used golf carts in communities. But the sxs I can’t get my head around. They offer 20 to 30 year RV / boat style loans on them. I suspect many people that lack financial literacy do that.
My sister has a neighbor that I’m sure is a financial house of cards. New house regular new suburban lot. Then he bought a new bronco a new cumins ram and put all the dumb stuff on it then 2 $35k can ams to put in his garage. Then a new camper trailer. She kept asking me how much things costs and then I witnessed it truly a strange situation.
84-month payment plans and home equity loans. “Make your house work for you!”
TK-421 is likely quite prescient.
It would give an accountant PTSD to calculate how much is being lost in interest payments and depreciation on all those toys.
Bankruptcy. That’s what happens.
A Private Equity Firm Just Bought A Majority Stake In Indian Motorcycle, Here’s What Comes Next:
Screw private equity.
I believe that’s called ‘finding synergies’. They’re going to synergize the shit out of Indian Motorcycle.
Not enough buzzwords! You have to fit “dynamism” and “disrupt” somewhere in there.