More than good friends the founder of Cat was one of the three who originally founded Polaris and a brother to one of them. Edgar and Allen Hetteen.Yep, it happens that they were good, perhaps very close friends from previous ventures. That doesn't happen anymore now days
Arctic Cat layoffs etc.
- Thread starter mspease
- Start date
I had really hoped that Yamaha would step up, and take the Arctic Cat line...and continue to install their 4 strokes in a new version of the catalyst (a wide body)....and continue with the two stroke line built here in the USA...with Yamaha's engine building prowess, and knowledge, I think they could really have something. But being a global corporation, like Yamaha is..it was highly unlikely to happen...Although Cat's manufacturing facilities had to be somewhat attractive to them....it does make me wonder if somebody like Kawasaki might jump at the opportunity to add another power sports line? I think it would be great for them...they seem to be a bit more progressive lately compared to Yamaha and Honda...and actually surprised many people with the release of the Ridge UTV line....it puts them in my opinion, ahead of Yamaha and Honda who don't even offer a full cab hvac model. To me Kawasaki makes sense...I'd love to see them back in Thief River Falls....there are plenty of classic cats running around with kawi power, and they already have both 4 cylinder, and 3 cylinder bike motors that they could easily fit into snowmobile chassis' (and or add turbos).....I'd much prefer the above scenario with Kawi over CF moto taking over. One last rant here....Textron should be heavily fined, and taxed by our government for doing this...( I know they won't, but they need to be slapped for this)...this was their 2nd foray into the snowmobile world, and their second failed attempt...they just ended arctic cat, and nearly ended polaris in the late 70s....they should never again be allowed to purchase, or have any type of controlling interest in ANY north American power sports company. If God wanted Texan's to snowmobile he would have made bullshit white...and if you are any kind of a true snowmobiler...DO NOT support them...do not buy their other products, and in fact boycott their stupid arses....(end rant)
Whoever is serious about acquiring AC has to be willing to work thru the industry’s overstock of snowmobiles for 2 years. The catalyst is well positioned to be a cash cow but apparently Textron is unwilling to work thru the overstock of noncurrents. Textron would rather sell than work thru the industry market issues ….stupid imo.
attakman, I mostly agree with your post. However I for one am dang glad Yamaha did not make a move to get, obtain, and then destroy AC as they had done to themselves. They, Yamaha had worn themselves out of anyone's trust after they flat out lied for many years that 'a new, all Yamaha' sled was coming. Such as the first all new designed, lighter weight 4 stroke, all Yamaha snowmobile! I waited 3 years, went to all of snow shows I could attend, and finally gave up on their absolute BS&L's. They finally tried to appease their Very Loyal, long time Customers, with shoehorned, misfit YamiCats. This ultimately pissed off many of the AC, and Yamaha loyalists, and they not being interested in a 'band aid fix', jumped ship, and left. Yamaha drug their Loyalest, and very best customers thru the BS&L's for over 10 years. They then flat left the business. I lived thru the Textron crucifixion of Poo, and the disgraceful John Deere dumping on their snowmobile customers. But I absolutely agree with your Kawi thoughts, and like them. The Kawi Ridge line is the real deal too!
Yeah, well, sadly so it is. Sucks!
Yep...I get it...feel the same way..although at the time I was intrigued by the cat/yami venture...Yami's chassis, and skids were junk compared to what was on the market...though the engines in my mind were top notch, absolutely loved my Apex xtx with eps...the motor and power steering were so good, it almost made me forget about how bad it rode compared to any cat or R-motion equipped doo...so the joint venture intrigued me..Yamaha motors with cat skids in my mind WINNER/WINNER....but shoe horning a vector motor into a chassis (cat F series) not designed for a top heavy 4 stroke, and never updating it, was the last straw....the Viper was under powered, and had a high center of gravity. The Cat chassis's definately gave the yami's a better riding, better handling machine, and the sidewinder's motor was wicked fast...but to see it never evolve over time was disheartening. It spoke volumes to what Yamaha was really doing...which was stop gap, and planning the end...nothing more. They kept their dealers appeased for 10 more years...that was all.....Sad really...the potential to really come out with something great was there....we just never saw it. As a long time Yamaha guy that hurt to watch....I ride a ski doo now, and they keep making better and better 4 strokes...Yamaha hooked me on the four strokes with the apex, and when they stopped making those...ski doo reeled me with their 4 stroke line up. I'll be riding ski doos for the foreseeable future...too bad Polaris won't/ can't make a decent 4 stroke.
mezz
Well-known member
I have mentioned this in a previous post, I have lost my interest in any Textron product due to their discontinuing production & parts availability for the SxS. I had a unit that just turned 7 years old with 2500 miles on it & found you cannot get parts for it whatsoever, not even a coolant reservoir cap. With all the accessories I had on it was over $22,000 worth in total. They also nixed parts availability on a number of newer AC units rendering them unrepairable. This is despicable & they should be punished for this. But, we all know that will never happen. Needless to say, I have turned to the Kawasaki Ridge for a replacement SxS & couldn't be happier about it. I would hope that Kawasaki could pick up AC, to me it would make good sense as pointed out by attakman & would bring full circle to AC as they use to sport a Kawasaki motor back in the day. All we can do is hope for the best for AC, the market needs them as well as the loyalists.
It seems only us old guys remember the early 70s cats with Kawi's...they were good machines, and fast. The Ext's, Sno Pros and original El Tigre's all powered by Kawasaki (of course cat used JLO, Hirth, and Sachs too)....if Kawi bought them they could bring back the old school purple too...(cat was purple and black before they were green and black)
Yeah, well, Yamaha rused me for years into believing that if anyone was going to bring out a specific designed lighter weight 4 stroke sled, they could, and would. All BS&L's. However, Doo as you said, kept moving the bar forward, and did just that. That made my choice easy. And Doo's 4 stroke sled sales exploded! The rest is history.
Yep Yamaha quit the 4s market Doo picked it up and advanced light weight 4s sleds while Polaris went all 2s for a long time and did not think the 4s market was worth an investment. Now ask yourself if you want to purchase a 4s sled we’re are you going to get it? Ski doo has the 4s market cornered with little competition because no one challenged them and after Yamaha promoted 4s sleds since 2003 invested in all the market missionary work. Crazy crazy just makes me laugh how some have managed their snow divisions.
Could we see a repeat of the early 80's when Cat went dark only to come back with a new product line? Probably not in this day and age.
It's safe to say that Kawasaki won't put a dime into the snow business unless there's a favorable return on investment. After a no-snow year and now a glut of new product unsold, the Magic 8 Ball says, "unlikely".
I don't want to come across as too harsh on the matter. We can all agree that four is better than three, and three is better than two. I wish we had ten to choose from but that's not reality. If this is the end of Arctic Cat, Cat will always have a prominent place in our history.
It's safe to say that Kawasaki won't put a dime into the snow business unless there's a favorable return on investment. After a no-snow year and now a glut of new product unsold, the Magic 8 Ball says, "unlikely".
My Two Cents
We're a niche market and apparently by the current events, we can only support two manufactures right now. If it becomes a two-horse race, so be it. We need to support what we have and hope that they continue to develop with price points we can afford.I don't want to come across as too harsh on the matter. We can all agree that four is better than three, and three is better than two. I wish we had ten to choose from but that's not reality. If this is the end of Arctic Cat, Cat will always have a prominent place in our history.
Absolutely gary! AC has a very, very rich history! Even with all of the up, and downs they have experienced. I just hope there is one more 'rabbit' in their hat!