Indian Motorcycle launched the FTR 1200 back in 2019 as a road-legal version of the hugely successful Indian Scout FTR750 flat tracker that bagged eight consecutive AFT Grand National and Manufacturer championships. It has long been considered Indian’s coolest offering, but it's now been discontinued.
The discontinuation was revealed in an earnings call published by Polaris Industries, Indian’s parent company. It’s a sad, sad end for a bike that was perhaps the best way to experience a real V-twin without having to deal with the heavy weight of cruiser and touring bikes.
"The company realized certain costs associated with the wind-down of the FTR product line beginning in the fourth quarter of 2024," the brand disclosed during the earnings call. This indicates that the company is likely cleaning away unsold FTR stock at the moment rather than selling fresh stock.
There was a bit of confusion around exactly what this meant but soon after Polaris came out with an official statement:
“After careful consideration, Indian Motorcycle made the decision to discontinue the FTR lineup. The decision aligns with Indian Motorcycle’s long-term vision to focus on models and technologies that represent the future of the brand, as FTR is a small part of Indian Motorcycle’s overall portfolio. The decision enables the brand to focus investments on platforms, as well as future products and technologies in the pipeline.”
So what led to this decision? Well, 2024 was a difficult year for Polaris. The company's official Q4 2024 and full-year 2024 financial report, together with its financial guidance for 2025 based on those results, were announced at the end of January 2025 – and the figures weren't very good.
Full-year 2024 sales were 20% lower than 2023 sales, while Q4 2024 sales (in dollars) were down 23% year over year. And that's not exclusive to Polaris' Indian Motorcycle brand; it applies to all powersports category segments that the company currently manages.
Continuing the gloomy projections, Polaris predicts that sales in 2025 will be between 1% and 4% lower than in 2024. The Minnesota-based company attributes this slump to the restoration of its employee profit-sharing program, planned production reductions that resulted in negative absorption, and margin headwinds from the negative mix.
Seems like Harley-Davidson isn’t the only one who suffered in 2024.
I’ve always admired the FTR for what it was. Without a doubt, it has been one of the brand's most recognizable motorcycles. With its teardrop-shaped tank, the flat tracker was heavily influenced by the Indian Scout FTR750's design and style.
It is powered by a 1203cc, liquid-cooled, v-twin engine that produces 120 horsepower and 87 lb-ft (117.9 Nm) of torque. Constructed on a trellis frame, it is suspended by an inverted fork and an off-set monoshock system. In contrast to the Scout FTR750, which has 19-inch alloy wheels, the Indian FTR 1200 comes with 17-inch wheels in every version.
As of this writing, the FTR series is still available on Indian Motorcycle websites in the US and abroad. However, after the remaining inventory is sold out, it will be taken down entirely from both the website and the portfolio.
I’d recommend you run to an Indian store and book one of the last few FTRs available if you have been putting off getting one. It is a sad end to a bike that had so much promise when it was first introduced.
Source: Polaris