Rumored - Arctic Cat has been bought

mezz

mezz

Well-known member
Good riddance to Textron. I will never purchase anything to do with that company again. They crapped on the powersports industry from dealerships to customers & lets not forget employees of AC. Looking forward to a revitalized Arctic Cat.
 
Last edited:
goofy600

goofy600

Well-known member
This is awesome news for the entire snowmobile community. As you would hope with new life they are will want to improve their reputation and bring new ideas to the sport which will hopefully push the others to continue and improve on there week spots.
 
W

whitedust

Well-known member
Definitely need 3 OEMs but wonder if Polaris and Cat will advance 4s or leave sled 4s market to doo. Currently Doo only full line up of 4s Poo dabbles a bit Cat could continue with Yamaha engines up to them.
 
E

euphoric1

Well-known member
whitedust said:
Definitely need 3 OEMs but wonder if Polaris and Cat will advance 4s or leave sled 4s market to doo. Currently Doo only full line up of 4s Poo dabbles a bit Cat could continue with Yamaha engines up to them.
Click to expand...
I hope they continue and advance with the 2's
 
W

whitedust

Well-known member
euphoric1 said:
I hope they continue and advance with the 2's
Click to expand...
Undoubtedly improve their 2s but wonder how they will treat 4s market and the procross? I don’t see any current 4s engine OEM fitting in the Catalyst but in the same breath Cat can pick up the SW market from Yamaha so why not?
 
H

Hoosier

Well-known member
whitedust said:
Undoubtedly improve their 2s but wonder how they will treat 4s market and the procross? I don’t see any current 4s engine OEM fitting in the Catalyst but in the same breath Cat can pick up the SW market from Yamaha so why not?
Click to expand...
One of the stories on it said the 2026 lineup will be out later today. I think it was from Snowgoer? I'm hoping they still have the thundercat, and I think that would be a sign they are wanting to stay in the 4s game AND that yamaha is still interested in supplying engines. No one knows what has been going on behind the scenes so there may not be much time to do much if anything new for 26, even if BNG only. I'd think they need to keep 4S for market share and keeping the factory busy. Textron lost a lot of sales for them.
 
hermie

hermie

Well-known member
I can't see them doing a whole lot this year as far as any changes. This is definitely excellent news for the sport and all the cat dealers and customers. Hopefully Argo will be more serious about putting out a quality product then Textron was and let the engineers who bleed cat green do there jobs.
 
W

whitedust

Well-known member
hermie said:
I can't see them doing a whole lot this year as far as any changes. This is definitely excellent news for the sport and all the cat dealers and customers. Hopefully Argo will be more serious about putting out a quality product then Textron was and let the engineers who bleed cat green do there jobs.
Click to expand...
Some Argo money coming in for sure but 2 separate companies probably have to stand on their own profitability is my thinking.
Hoosier said:
One of the stories on it said the 2026 lineup will be out later today. I think it was from Snowgoer? I'm hoping they still have the thundercat, and I think that would be a sign they are wanting to stay in the 4s game AND that yamaha is still interested in supplying engines. No one knows what has been going on behind the scenes so there may not be much time to do much if anything new for 26, even if BNG only. I'd think they need to keep 4S for market share and keeping the factory busy. Textron lost a lot of sales for them.
Click to expand...
Thunder cat and SW definitely low hanging fruit for AC and Yamaha
 
O

old abe

Well-known member
whitedust said:
Definitely need 3 OEMs but wonder if Polaris and Cat will advance 4s or leave sled 4s market to doo. Currently Doo only full line up of 4s Poo dabbles a bit Cat could continue with Yamaha engines up to them.
whitedust, the day's of shoehorn fitting a engine into a existing sled are in the past. Good riddance to that too! Yamaha is gone, they made their choice long ago. They, and Textron are of the same bulge as far as the snowmobile business goes. If whoever, is going to produce a top shelf, very well balanced, and handling 4 stroke sled, the engine, and the sled chassis must be designed together as one. And to compliment each other as in a modular designed model production. Such as Doo has done for years now. Rube Goldberg fitments won't make the grade anymore. Handling is the key to success in selling sleds now days.
Click to expand...
 
W

whitedust

Well-known member
Abe baby steps to AC profitability no current money for clean sheet 4s platform so support and harvest what is available. Many like and enjoy the SW platform and the Yamaha engine is a work of art. Thunder kitty is easy peasy money for now. 👍
 
O

old abe

Well-known member
P
whitedust said:
Abe baby steps to AC profitability no current money for clean sheet 4s platform so support and harvest what is available. Many like and enjoy the SW platform and the Yamaha engine is a work of art. Thunder kitty is easy peasy money for now. 👍
Click to expand...
Perhaps so whitedust, but I wouldn't bet on it. That's not the direction to go for long term success in the snowmo buss. Such a very small market segment.
 
E

euphoric1

Well-known member
I for one hope and pray they will not switch to an all 4's platform/line-up, I think there is still a large enough segment out there that still want a 2's sled. IMO the Catalyst is one sweet ride/chassis and hope it will continue to carry the 2's engine as it was designed to. maybe for those "Tim Allen" guys an offering of a 858 turbo or return of the 1000 cc 2 stroke twin. I hope 2's are here to stay as I may be an oddity but I dont think I am alone when I say I have no interest of 4's sleds. If they want to come up with a 4's platform of its own... more power to them. I'd like to see the Catalyst stay with the 2's offering and maybe some refinement in displacement offerings and turbo options, but leave the Catalyst with the 2's engine the chassis was designed around IMO
 
W

whitedust

Well-known member
euphoric1 said:
I for one hope and pray they will not switch to an all 4's platform/line-up, I think there is still a large enough segment out there that still want a 2's sled. IMO the Catalyst is one sweet ride/chassis and hope it will continue to carry the 2's engine as it was designed to. maybe for those "Tim Allen" guys an offering of a 858 turbo or return of the 1000 cc 2 stroke twin. I hope 2's are here to stay as I may be an oddity but I dont think I am alone when I say I have no interest of 4's sleds. If they want to come up with a 4's platform of its own... more power to them. I'd like to see the Catalyst stay with the 2's offering and maybe some refinement in displacement offerings and turbo options, but leave the Catalyst with the 2's engine the chassis was designed around IMO
Click to expand...
The catalyst 2s is definitely the payoff for the AC acquisition and will continue that’s a no brainer and I have no idea why Textron didn’t have faith in it or care. My question is does the Thunder kitty continue for now? Imo it does as low hanging fruit especially since Yamaha is gone. Future AC 4s development is unknown as no current 4s engine that I know of would take advantage of the low center of gravity of the catalyst platform. Expectations of some big tech 2s or 4s AC release for 2026 is unrealistic imo.
 
K

katden4

Active member
whitedust said:
The catalyst 2s is definitely the payoff for the AC acquisition and will continue that’s a no brainer and I have no idea why Textron didn’t have faith in it or care. My question is does the Thunder kitty continue for now? Imo it does as low hanging fruit especially since Yamaha is gone. Future AC 4s development is unknown as no current 4s engine that I know of would take advantage of the low center of gravity of the catalyst platform. Expectations of some big tech 2s or 4s AC release for 2026 is unrealistic imo.
Click to expand...
The only reason they may not come out with anything new for 2026 is 100% Textron's lack of drive. It takes 3-5 years to develop a new product, not months. It may be challenging to get contracts for parts, but the plans for a 2026 should be 100% done as of last year.

I am anxiously awaiting to hear what their plan is moving forward. I really hope they keep both Dirt and Snow.
 
indy_500

indy_500

Well-known member
Glad to see this result. I foresee less and less 4s offerings from Cat coming soon. The more and more Poo and Doo went away from 2s, the more market share they gained. The 4s crowd on here is not your average consumer. The average consumer wants 2s sleds, not to mention 4s lasts longer and requires less repairs, which means less sled sales and less dealer repair profits to be made. They both have their pluses and minuses, but from a business perspective, they will make more $ selling 2s machines.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top