Sitting hear waiting for current -20F high to warm-up a bit for riding & started to let my mind wander about 2015 Snowmobile Lines Ups. I think the industry as whole has excellent line ups right now but technology always moves on.
My best guess as follows:
Yamaha will cook up a 4s turbo Mountain Sled with AC that will serve both OEMs. Yamaha also needs to counter the Doo ACE 600 & 900 with their own answer to the fuel efficient 100hp 4s trail sled market. The Nytro could disappear in favor of the Viper but the rest of the line up will be BNGs.
Polaris needs to come out with a new design 800 2s engine leave the past 800 behind start fresh turn a new leaf. This would be a big deal for Polaris to get the 800 right make a good sled even better especially with the mountain sleds where you need max 800 ponies. Polaris way behind on 4s side & probably doesn't care nothing new here. Indy sells well & so does Rush pro-ride so BNG on the rest of the lineup.
Ski Doo will refine 900 Ace better shocks maybe an X this sled was very well received & will continue to sell well. Is this the year doo puts a turbo on the 4s 1200? Does Doo release next generation etec 800 just to keep the competition at bay? Doo leading the market & usually doesn't release a new platform until others catch up so unless a new 2015 platform lots of BNGs here too.
Arctic Cat bit off a lot last year new 600 2s engine & incorporated Yamaha Nytro engine in their lineup as well as manufacturing the Viper line up for Yamaha. This had to drain their engineering design & manufacturing resources but on the other hand Yamaha & Arctic Cat engineers had to have some exciting discussions on what could be during brainstorming sessions. Again I think we could see a shared Mountain platform with a Yamaha turbo engine. Does AC clean up their 800 2s maybe but 1 of the stronger 2s 800s so is this a priority....maybe? With all AC took on last year I think AC should refine the current product line & continue to support Yamaha & minimize risk for their company & don't run so thin they implode. They really took on a lot responsibility last year IMO take a breath for a year plenty to digest already.
Well that's it from my day dreaming what do you think 2015 will bring to snowmobiles?
My best guess as follows:
Yamaha will cook up a 4s turbo Mountain Sled with AC that will serve both OEMs. Yamaha also needs to counter the Doo ACE 600 & 900 with their own answer to the fuel efficient 100hp 4s trail sled market. The Nytro could disappear in favor of the Viper but the rest of the line up will be BNGs.
Polaris needs to come out with a new design 800 2s engine leave the past 800 behind start fresh turn a new leaf. This would be a big deal for Polaris to get the 800 right make a good sled even better especially with the mountain sleds where you need max 800 ponies. Polaris way behind on 4s side & probably doesn't care nothing new here. Indy sells well & so does Rush pro-ride so BNG on the rest of the lineup.
Ski Doo will refine 900 Ace better shocks maybe an X this sled was very well received & will continue to sell well. Is this the year doo puts a turbo on the 4s 1200? Does Doo release next generation etec 800 just to keep the competition at bay? Doo leading the market & usually doesn't release a new platform until others catch up so unless a new 2015 platform lots of BNGs here too.
Arctic Cat bit off a lot last year new 600 2s engine & incorporated Yamaha Nytro engine in their lineup as well as manufacturing the Viper line up for Yamaha. This had to drain their engineering design & manufacturing resources but on the other hand Yamaha & Arctic Cat engineers had to have some exciting discussions on what could be during brainstorming sessions. Again I think we could see a shared Mountain platform with a Yamaha turbo engine. Does AC clean up their 800 2s maybe but 1 of the stronger 2s 800s so is this a priority....maybe? With all AC took on last year I think AC should refine the current product line & continue to support Yamaha & minimize risk for their company & don't run so thin they implode. They really took on a lot responsibility last year IMO take a breath for a year plenty to digest already.
Well that's it from my day dreaming what do you think 2015 will bring to snowmobiles?