Long live all four brands

[whitedust]

Actually all 4 OEMS should take all their insured non currents put them all in the same warehouse spill gas on the floor, get the hotdogs and marshmellows for a good time at the ole camp fire tonight!

 

[ezra]

All 4 OEMS need to limit their 2018-2019 builds to clean out the pipeline of non currents and they all have them. This sucks for new platforms but the non currents bang for the buck can not be ignored by end users. IDK what will happen but the market is shrinking and common sense for OEMs to coast ride out this slow period. Yamaha is actually in the best position to ride out a couple of lean years as is Poo. Both Doo and AC invested in new products need to move non currents and new units ASAP for ROI on their new tooling. All 4 OEMs need to build to units ordered in a given year which means back to Spring Deals after non currents are sold off. All 4 OEMs are going to have at least 2 off years to balance inventory to model year sales....no other way I know to match supply and demand. Anybody else have any creative ideas?...I'm listening.

1 a fire in the holding lot in TRF
2 a tornado through the holding lot in trf
3 a fire and tornado in holding lot in trf
would match supply with demand

 

[dj2muchjunk]

Go Vintage!!

 

[mezz]

Textron paid 40% over market price for Cat. Why would they pull the plug? Cat was the only company of the 4 that still makes a big chunk of its revenue from snow. All I've ever heard is Cat's dirt products aren't exactly market leaders, so I doubt they were buying for that. Textron is a much bigger company than Yamaha Doo or Poo. I don't see what they were after if not a new market to be in.

Exactly! To all of the sceptics & negative nellies &/or ney Sayers, you just don't know, just watch. This company knows exactly what they are doing. Surprises are around the bend.-Mezz

 

[old abe]

Exactly! To all of the sceptics & negative nellies &/or ney Sayers, you just don't know, just watch. This company knows exactly what they are doing. Surprises are around the bend.-Mezz

I agree mezz. One thing for sure, Textron did not make this acquisition for the benefit of anyone but Textron/AC. I don't think this is good for Yami either. I say that because Yami doesn't appear to want to, or willing to build their own complete snowmobile.

 

[shelby369]

I'm a cat guy with green blood, I'll take a "wait and see" position on this sale.. we can speculate all day long, but hey, only the brass know for sure the future....... the bigger fear isn't Textron buying Cat, it's the "whole big" picture of the sport in total..... cat may or may not be here in 10 years, but so might the sport based on all the sporst tell tails..... youth, price, trails, reg's, weather, etc etc.......

 

[scoot]

If I had unlimited time to spend, I'd go back through the archives to quote and paste all the times the "expert theorists" were wrong on here. Heck, I'd have enough material to have a whole dedicated section. I can't help but notice they never come back to admit they were wrong either....

{Activated, a bunch of guys scanning through their old posts to edit them now.}

 

[sjb]

I think I know whats ahead....its like this....for 25 years Suzuki EFI has been tested overseas in all manners of vehicles....but what they found out is....due to limited parking and owner fees and price per liter of gas....a lot want a street legal ATV....Textron got word of this since cat and zuk were working on this for years and years....soon you will see CAT street legal ATVs and WILDCATS that are EFI with turn signals and all car comforts....this is what I believe they are aiming for....70mpg EFI street legal toys....new market

Great insight - and if you think of it, we are just about there in some of the northern Counties of WI. Many town roads allow ATV's and UTV's to run all over without the needed lights. I could see this evolve even more.

- - - Updated - - -

4S outboards due help you sell you boat faster and usually for more $.... this is mostly marketing and public perception and typically nothing to due with actual performance and reliability factors. To get closer to what works best you'll need to talk to marine dealers and their mechanics and they'll usually help you without being biased. Any of the motors will get you out on the lake or down the trial....some are just better for your tastes or for certain situations. For me it's seems Yamaha is more conservative and that usually results in more reliable products and there quality control and build quality seems good at least from experience....Just look at Toyota, they take forever to make any significant changes and their products are reliable for the most part but boring mostly and this is necessarily bad especially for the auto market ... for me as a toy i use a handful of times I don't want boring or conservative. I want good power to weight ratio and good handling with decent quality control and Ski-Doo/Polaris seems to tick those boxes more than Cat or Yamaha.

Great points Mag - and this is why the choice of the 4 we have is great. For ME, reliability is #1 in my box. That is why to date, I am still riding Yami. For the most part, no major issues. And for you, you have different needs and a different product. We are both happy!

 

[mezz]

I think I know whats ahead....its like this....for 25 years Suzuki EFI has been tested overseas in all manners of vehicles....but what they found out is....due to limited parking and owner fees and price per liter of gas....a lot want a street legal ATV....Textron got word of this since cat and zuk were working on this for years and years....soon you will see CAT street legal ATVs and WILDCATS that are EFI with turn signals and all car comforts....this is what I believe they are aiming for....70mpg EFI street legal toys....new market

That will not happen, it's been tried & is no longer allowed here in Michigan. Primarily due to the insurance industries concerns with safety issues. Nice try.-Mezz

 

[JimAndros]

I'm a cat guy with green blood, I'll take a "wait and see" position on this sale.. we can speculate all day long, but hey, only the brass know for sure the future....... the bigger fear isn't Textron buying Cat, it's the "whole big" picture of the sport in total..... cat may or may not be here in 10 years, but so might the sport based on all the sporst tell tails..... youth, price, trails, reg's, weather, etc etc.......

Maybe they don't really know either. And no one can control the weather.

 

[nc666]

Another 10 years there will only be fat tire bikes on the trails.

 

[sweeperguy]

Another 10 years there will only be fat tire bikes on the trails.

If that happens, I'll be the guy on the snowmobile. That is having threads posted about him, on Fattire.com
Users posting about, how's this guy think he can use our trails? He doesn't have a "FATPASS" or anything.

 

[Wong]

Exactly! To all of the sceptics & negative nellies &/or ney Sayers, you just don't know, just watch. This company knows exactly what they are doing. Surprises are around the bend.-Mezz

You are correct Mezz, no well managed profitable company would buy another company knowing or anticipating shutting it down! Anyone looking at this purchase this way has absolutely no business background and should be sitting on their hands instead of typing childish uninformed nonsense.

 

[Tracker]

That will not happen, it's been tried & is no longer allowed here in Michigan. Primarily due to the insurance industries concerns with safety issues. Nice try.-Mezz

the world according to GARP....LOL....why do you all think TEXTRON bought CAT? for snicks and giggles....for speculation and hearsay? so mich banned it for a spell....do you all know why they banned it suddenly? and Indiana it juts became legal in 30 counties....and 20 states they are now allowed.....the FUTURE cometh at you full speed

http://www.world-of-atvs.com/street-quads.html

ATVs designed from the ground up to be street quads are growing in popularity in countries that have street legal 4 wheelers. We in the USA can only fantasize about street ATVs but that won't stop us from taking a look at them. These are some of the current offerings from around the world.


Street Legal Quad Report.

Did you know that in Europe the sight of a street legal quad is common? That's right - ATVs can go through a process called "homologation" that guarantees they meet certain standards established by the European Commission. Once they pass, these 4 wheelers can be licensed as "quadricycles".


heres UK for one...notice anything about the MANU.....any spark? YAMI + CAT...anything yet? need more?

 

[mezz]

Banned for this use by Michigan Secretary of State. Too many implications with the No-Fault Law here in Michigan, there isn't a single Insurance Company that does business in Michigan that will write a risk like this, no matter what other country allows it, Including Indiana LOL! Is Indiana like Texas use to advertise, "It's a whole other country"?? LOL! This is NOT the reason Textron bought AC. You need to do some REAL research on the company and all that they are into & their reasons for the acquisition & you should also educate your self on the Michigan No-Fault Law. Textron did not acquire AC to make a side x side for highway use, get realistic already. The plethora of your knowledge is truly amazing.-Mezz

 

[whitedust]

You are correct Mezz, no well managed profitable company would buy another company knowing or anticipating shutting it down! Anyone looking at this purchase this way has absolutely no business background and should be sitting on their hands instead of typing childish uninformed nonsense.

Are you kidding me?.... it happens all the time....Look into Danaher they acquire merge, consolidate and downsize plus buy and sell lines all the time. Look into Stanley and Black & Decker.....Textron could easily combine parts of AC with other entities merge product manufacturing together that makes sense to them then sell off the others or close them down. No 1 blanket acquisition strategy that applies to all acquisitions. Be careful you are are boxing yourself in with blanket statements like this.

 

[frnash]

Are you kidding me?.... it happens all the time....Look into Danaher they acquire merge, consolidate and downsize plus buy and sell lines all the time. Look into Stanley and Black & Decker.....Textron could easily combine parts of AC with other entities merge product manufacturing together that makes sense to them then sell off the others or close them down. No 1 blanket acquisition strategy that applies to all acquisitions. Be careful you are are boxing yourself in with blanket statements like this.

You betcha. Some such actions have been done to deliberately kill a competitor and thereby gain a business advantage.

 

[Cirrus_Driver]

Are you kidding me?.... it happens all the time....Look into Danaher they acquire merge, consolidate and downsize plus buy and sell lines all the time. Look into Stanley and Black & Decker.....Textron could easily combine parts of AC with other entities merge product manufacturing together that makes sense to them then sell off the others or close them down. No 1 blanket acquisition strategy that applies to all acquisitions. Be careful you are are boxing yourself in with blanket statements like this.

I was going to reply to Mr. Wong earlier, but thought why bother. WD - you are exactly correct of course. Major Corps. buy companies all the time for the market share alone, capacity only, assembly facilities, breakup value, or could even realize they made a mistake not to far down the road. Nothing definitive in this says they bought for AC to make it competitive, and to compete in snomo only.

 

[mezz]

I am in no way insinuating that AC would be kept "whole", I can see where a company such as Textron making this a proactive move to enhance the strengths of AC & utilize that to everyone's advantage. Textron, however, did not make this move towards street legal ATV's or SxS, (which I am sure most of you know already). I will however go as far as saying, Textron makes a hands down top quality SxS, & as a life long Cat enthusiast, they did fall short in this arena. Textron is & has been involved in a number of long time well known & currently manufactured products. In the end, its a good move for both parties.-Mezz

 

[G]

It was a good move for AC. The only other move left for them was some form of bankruptcy.