The parent company of Victory Motorcycles, Polaris Industries reported improved sales across their range of powersport products, including everyone’s favorite cruiser.

Polaris Industries Inc. today reported record third quarter net income of $67.6 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2011 which translates to a 43 percent improvement over the same period from the year before.

Sales for the third quarter 2011 totaled a record $729.9 million, an increase of 26 percent from last year’s third quarter sales of $580.1 million.

“Despite challenging economic conditions, we are pleased to report another record quarter of sales, net income and earnings per share. I am exceptionally proud of how the Polaris team continued to drive growth and productivity in the third quarter,” Scott Wine, Polaris’ Chief Executive Officer, said.

The motorcycle group, or  the ‘On-Road Vehicle’ sales totaled $35.7 million, 77 percent higher than the same period in 2010, primarily due to Victory motorcycle sales increases.

It seems there is an international taste for Victory Motorcycles with sales to customers outside of North America increased 74 percent compared to the prior year’s third quarter.

While other divisions such as Off-Road Vehicle and Snowmobiles are included in the Parts, Garments, and Accessories (“PG&A”) sales, they collectively increased 21 percent during the third quarter 2011 to $112.9 million compared to the same period last year, with PG&A sales increasing across all businesses and geographies.

During the 2011 third quarter the Company introduced over 200 new accessories and garments to the PG&A product line for the 2012 model year.

Although creating some controversy when first announced, it appears Polaris executives are pleased with the production facilities in Mexico which shipped its 10,000th ‘side-by-side product’ in the quarter.

Wine noted this event was ‘marking an important milestone while demonstrating the schedule fidelity and focus on quality that is a cornerstone of Polaris operations’, which could be taken as a dig at Harley-Davidson's production problems in its York plant.

“Given our year-to-date results, the positive momentum exhibited by our businesses, and the strong performance of our 2012 model year products introduced earlier this year, we are raising our full year 2011 sales and earnings expectations,” Wine said, “We expect 2011 will be a record year for Polaris, demonstrating our commitment to making growth happen in spite of adverse economic conditions.”