Its parent company, Polaris Industries, created Victory following the modern success of Harley-Davidson. Victory's motorcycles were designed to compete directly with Harley-Davidson and similar American-style motorcycle brands, with V-twin engines and touring, sport-touring, and cruiser configurations. The first Victory, the V92C, was announced in 1997 and began selling in 1998. Victory was profitable for a number of years (beginning in 2002) but failed to turn a profit three of its last five years, due to a lack of sensible investment in the brand, preferring to release new model years with no changes to successful models other than paint, and poor investment choices in electric and three wheeled motorcycles.