Bikes Will Be Made In the Usa, Says Indian's New Chieftain
BIKES WILL BE MADE IN THE USA, SAYS INDIAN'S NEW CHIEFTAIN
THE MAN WHO SAYS HE will bring John Britten-designed Indians to market has some strong ideas on what it will take for the company to be a success.
Maurits Hayim-Langridge, the Australia-based money man behind the Indian Motor Company, says, “We’ll be building the motorcycles that Indian would be producing had they stayed in business all along...Back in the glory days of the ’teens and ’20s, Indian was at the cutting edge of performance technology, and we have to revive that tradition. We have to be sure people get off the 1998 Indian Chief with stars in their eyes after riding it.”
Racing-more directly, racing to win-will play an important part in the new Indian’s marketing plans. Langridge talks enthusiastically of a 1 OOOcc V-Twin Superbike racer and a street version with 1500cc displacement.
“The American public is ready for an American Superbike. The top technology exists in the USA to build a high-performance machine capable of competing with a 916 Ducati,” he says. “But there are no prizes for coming in second best.”
Langridge, formerly the Australian Harley-Davidson importer, is looking for a plant location in America.
“The bikes have to be produced in the USA,” he says. “You couldn’t have an Aussiebuilt Indian Chief. We’ve brought in consultants to help us sift through the various factors involved in locating the factory, like tax advantages, support industries, labor forces, climatic conditions and proximity of shipping ports...We’ve narrowed the choice down to six possible locations, and will make a decision soon, probably in favor of the Midwest. Then we’ll start building, and recruiting.”
Langridge became a key player in the Indian revival when he and a partner invested $250,000 in Phillip Zanghi’s Indian Motocycle Company, now-defunct.
“The Zanghis were all front,” Langridge says. “They had this supposed factory site in Connecticut with a beautifully painted front gate they posed me and all the other mugs in front of, but behind it was acres of nothing with 20 Turkish laborers working on the leather jackets that the Zanghis were marketing supposedly to promote and utilize the Indian trademark...It was a house of cards, and eventually it all came tumbling down.”
Langridge was there to pick up the pieces. In return for a $2.5 million payment to other Zanghi creditors, spread out over eight years, Langridge and company took over Indian Motocycle’s assets-including the all-important trademark.
What of IMMI in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the other player in the Indian revival? Despite persistent rumors to the contrary, Wayne Baughman insists his Century V-Twin Chief is still viable. Langridge thinks not.
“Baughman has completely underestimated the financial and engineering stakes involved in starting up a motorcycle manufacturing business,” he says. “He seems to think $10 million will take care of everything, whereas you can’t even fit out the production lines for a single model for twice that...He seems more interested with getting lots of glory and showing his motorcycles off in the media in an effort to persuade potential dealers and customers to part with money up front.”
Langridge says that’s the wrong way of doing business, especially in a field of Indian revivalists who have cried wolf once too often.
“We’ve spent more than $2 million of our own money getting this far, and haven’t taken a penny from anyone to date. All we have is contractual commitments from financial corporations to supply venture capital as and when we need it...The thing I keep stressing to everyone who calls me from the USA and around the world asking for dealerships is that the one thing we have to get right above all is quality, leading to reliability-and if it means backing off on launch dates so we can be 101 percent certain of our quality control, so be it,” Langridge says.
—Alan Cathcart
