Indian Motorcycle Company relaunches with the announcement of a 40,000 square foot manufacturing facility as its world headquarters located in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. The town is in Cleveland County, 37 miles west of downtown Charlotte.
“We believe Cleveland County and the greater Charlotte area are a perfect fit for Indian Motorcycle Company and were proud to call this area home,” said Indian Chairman, Stephen Julius.
Indian Motorcycle Company bills itself as Americas oldest and most iconic motorcycle brand founded in 1901. In preparation for Indians re-launch, management has spent considerable time over the last two years researching the American motorcycle market and learning from the successes and failures of other market entrants. In particular, Indian has studied the tremendous growth of Harley-Davidson from near-bankruptcy in the early 1980s to a multi-billion dollar success story today. However, Indian is intent on slowly carving out its own niche in the large and growing heavyweight cruiser motorcycle market.
Over the next 12 months, Indian will focus on design, engineering and testing activities, with the objective of introducing the famed Indian Chief motorcycle in the second half of 2007. To head up its product development team, Indian has hired Geoffrey Burgess, a world-renowned motorcycle engineer and product development expert. Geoff was most recently the Chief Technology Officer at Global Motorsports Group (“GMG”), owner of Custom Chrome, a provider of parts and accessories to the American V-twin motorcycle market.
The controlling shareholder of Indian Motorcycle Company is London based Stellican Limited which has a track record of resurrecting classic brands, including, most recently, the successful relaunch of Chris-Craft boats, which was founded in 1874 and is among the oldest boat brands in the United States. “We will apply the same practical and long-term approach to Indian as we have employed successfully at Chris-Craft,” commented Stephen Julius, Chairman of both Indian Motorcycle and Chris-Craft. “We are confident we will repeat our success with Indian by remaining true to the rich heritage of this incredible brand and doing things slowly and thoroughly. We are certain that there is an important role for Indian in the future of the American motorcycle market,” added Mr. Julius.