But this has been the M/O of AC for the past 10 plus years....forcing dealers to take inventory year in and year out regardless of how the prior year was with snow and sales. It took the dealers to stand up and say no before they listened. A lot of those mom and pop dealers have long been gone, but that is the case with all the brands. And now AC builds a new Taj Mahal in downtown Minneapolis for millions of dollars rather than investing that type of money in R&D to bring excitement back to their brand (ATV/UTV and sleds). The Yamacat venture was a band aide for those two brands considering what Ski Doo and Polaris have accomplished working with their ATV/UTV development as well as the constant improvement and advancement in their sleds. Unless they, AC/Yamaha both rededicate themselves to their individual brands, there will only be two brands left in the coming years. Tucker retiring from snowcross will likely be the first nail in AC's coffin IMO.
Two more Arctic Cat dealers gone.
- Thread starter Wong
- Start date
well first Cat taking over the building in warehouse dist was prob not a bad idea . the young talent has no desire to live in the burbs or in the sticks of the north woods.cat has always been good at creative print media and it ended there the move downtown may help that and also attract top designers. time will tell if it was a good move but imho it will be . as far as R&D on sleds cat always has and always will be heavy in racing R&D tucker or no tucker they will still push for victory that is what they do. atv yeah total junk always have been. biggest issue I have with cat is how they have been treating dealers and the whole worthless cat care deal.
snobuilder
Well-known member
bearrassler
Well-known member
As a former dealer it is sad to see this happening. As Kip said earlier it is hard to make any money selling power sports equipment now. AC seems to be the worst off though. If you take the eastern half of ND we only have one AC dealer in Fargo and he is new there. NW MN is just as bad with RV Sports in TRF one of the only ones left.
Mark@TimberlineSports
New member
The guys at crack me up are the guys that bought their new sled from a big box store, their new klim suit from the snow show, their new helmet from the internet, and their oil from farm and fleet. Then they actually get to where they ride and need service, they cant understand why their "favorite" dealership went out of business.
All true. Problem is the Mfg's don't care. Well at least not yet. It's not in the modern day Corp. creed of doing business. My wife and I both enjoyed reading the SnowGoer article about David Johnson, and his career with Polaris. That is a good example of how they used to run a company. Just one word, "dedication". Roger Skime is another example. Try to find that today.