From up above, the purchase of Indian made sense for Polaris.

The Victory brand was meant to compete for HD buyers. Pretty obvious in their badging of their products, and their marketing.

HD buyers are fiercely brand loyal, and are buying an image and/or reputation as much as a motorcycle.

Victory, starting from scratch in 90s, had quite an uphill battle to make a dent in the V-twin domestic cruiser market.

Here comes Indian, with a for sale sign on it, an established name, distinctive features, offering Polaris the package they always hoped to establish with Victory (and probably would have with enough time) a brand and reputation already developed over many decades. I bet the day Polaris closed the deal to buy Indian, there was a conversation in the board room about dropping the Vic line.