Polaris Industries

Polaris Industries

Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: PII
Industry	Motor vehicles
Founded	1954
Headquarters	Medina, Minnesota, U.S.
Key people	Gregory R. Palen (Chairman) Scott W. Wine (CEO) Bennett J. Morgan (President & COO)
Products	All-terrain vehicles Snowmobiles Motorcycles
Revenue	US$ 1.991 billion (2010)[1]
Operating income	US$ 220.7 million (2010)[1]
Net income	US$ 147.1 million (2010)[1]
Total assets	US$ 1.062 billion (2010)[1]
Total equity	US$ 371.0 million (2010)[1]
Employees	3,000 (December 2010)[1]
Website	PolarisIndustries.com

Polaris Industries is an American manufacturer of snowmobiles, ATV, and neighborhood electric vehicles. Polaris is based in the Minneapolis exurb of Medina, Minnesota, USA. The company also manufactures motorcycles through its Victory Motorcycles subsidiary and through the Indian Motorcycle subsidiary which it purchased in April 2011.^[2] Polaris no longer produces watercraft.

Robin (a subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries, which is the owner of Subaru) develops and supplies all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and snowmobile engines for U.S.-based leisure equipment maker Polaris Industries Inc. Starting in 1995 with the Polaris Magnum 425 4-stroke atv and in 1997, with the introduction of the "twin 700" snowmobile engine Polaris started the development and production of in-house produced powerplants, known as the "Liberty" line of engines, now found in many models across their current production lines. This production makes some Polaris products 100% American made. However, in 2010 Polaris relocated a portion of its utility and sport vehicle assembly to Mexico. Polaris snowmobiles are still 100% American made with the powertrain components manufactured in Osceola, WI and the vehicle assembly in Roseau, MN. The vast majority of powertrain and vehicles for the off-road line are manufactured in the Osceola and Roseau facilities, respectively. Both the Victory and Indian motorcycle brands are American made with complete powertrains and vehicle assembly located in Osceola, WI and Spirit Lake, IA, respectively.

Corporate history

Polaris Sno Traveler (1965)

Edgar Hetteen, who was described by the Snowmobile Hall of Fame in St. Germain, Wisconsin, as the father of the snowmobile, and Allan Hetteen, were partners in Hetteen Hoist and Derrick Shop in Roseau, Minnesota. Edgar had dropped out of school after the eighth grade in 1934. Their employees, David Johnson, partnered with Paul Knochenmus, and Orlen Johnson, who was the first person ever to ride a Polaris, decided to create a vehicle that could travel through snow. These vehicles' primary use was to make hunting locations more accessible. The employees worked overtime to finish their concept model in 1954. After creating it using a grain silo conveyor belt as a track and an old Chevy bumper for skis, they had the first snowmachine. After returning from a trip, Edgar was shown the machine, but was skeptical of its value^[3] and was disappointed that the group had spent company time and materials on the machine. The No 1 sled was soon sold to Roseau lumberyard owner "Silver Pete" H.F. Peterson for $465 in order to meet company payroll.^[4]

However, the employees continued to be focused on building snowmobiles and soon a second model was created, called the Polaris Sno Traveler. The first production model rolled off the assembly line in Minnesota in 1956. The original models weighed close to 1,000 lb (450 kg) and moved at a speed of about 20 mph (32 km/h). They came in a two-tone paint job (white below blue with a strip or chrome trim dividing them). In order to publicize the new snowmobile and show their reliability and usefulness, in 1960 Edgar led three snowmobilers on a 1200 mile trek across the Alaskan wilderness, starting from Bethel, Alaska. The trip took three weeks, and much of the time, Edgar struggled to maintain 10 mph over the snow.^[3][5] The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner put them on its front page. However, his absence caused problems for him with the company's board of directors. Soon after completing the trip, Edgar left the company in June and started a competing company called Polar Manufacturing in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. The company name later changed to Arctic Enterprises; in the mid-1980s it filed for bankruptcy amid fierce competition as snowmobiles became popular and other manufacturers jumped into the market. The company emerged from bankruptcy and continues on today as Arctic Cat.

Polaris began developing a smaller consumer-sized, front engine snowmobile to compete with the SkiDoo in the early 1960s. In 1964, Polaris released the Comet. However, the Comet soon ran into problems as it could not travel in all types of snow conditions. Polaris then recalled the sleds and quickly developed a new prototype to avoid bankruptcy. The new model, the 1965 Mustang, became a hit as a family snowmobile and boosted Polaris sales. Polaris continued to develop snowmobiles similar to this model throughout the 1960s-1970s, and went on to become one of the leaders in the snowmobile industry.^[4][6]

In the early 1980s, Polaris started creating an Indy style snowmobile with IFS and a wider stance. They continued with the Indy style sled in the 90's with the Storm, Ultra, and Trail lines. In 1985, Polaris introduced the Trailboss, which is considered to be the first American-made all-terrain vehicles (ATV). Today, Polaris is one of the top selling brands of ATV's. In the late 1990s, Polaris introduced the Polaris Rocky Mountain King (RMK)- a snowmobile specific for mountain terrain. In May 2009, Polaris announced the creation of an On-Road Vehicle Division. The new division will be devoted to the growth of Victory motorcycles and other on-road products and brands.^[7] In 2010, Polaris introduced the Polaris Rush snowmobile which had a new suspension system and better trail handling capabilities. This snowmobile is also available with retro graphics on the Rush and Iq models. In late 2005, Polaris Industries announced that it would purchase a portion of KTM Motorcycles. Through this venture KTM has developed their own ATV and Polaris has developed Sport ATVs which utilize the KTM 525 and 450 powerplants that have seen great success on the ATV racing circuit.

On May 21, 2010, Polaris announced that it was opening a new manufacturing plant in Mexico. The sister facility in Osceola, WI still remains in full operation. The opening of the Monterrey, Mexico facility is anticipated to save the company $30 million annually, with most of that savings coming from lower wages.^[8] In October 2011, Polaris announced an investment in Brammo, Inc., an electric vehicle company based in Ashland, Oregon, United States. Its first production electric motorcycle, the Brammo Enertia, is assembled in Ashland and sold at dealerships.^[9] Polaris continued its investment in Brammo when it participated in the $13 million opening tranche of Brammo's Series C funding round in July 2012.^[10] Polaris had been showing interest in electric propulsion, producing an electric version of its Ranger Side-by-Side and more recently buying Global Electric Motorcars (GEM) from Chrysler. As one publication put it, "This latest move likely signals the addition of clean and quiet drivetrains to ATVs and motorcycles under the global giant's brand umbrella – snowmobiles may have to wait on battery breakthroughs before they become commercially feasible."^[11] In 2012, production restarted on the Indy-named sleds (stopped in 2004 with the Indy 500) with the release of the 2013 Indy 600 and Indy 600 SP. For 2014, Polaris will expand the Indy name and provide model variants for nearly all categories (the one exception being the "Mountain" class).

Lubricants

Polaris has a wide range of lubricants and equipment, which are sold under the name PURE Polaris, to complement its machines such as ATVs and snowmobiles. Included in this line are synthetic and conventional motor oil (both 2- and 4-cycle), grease, fuel, sprays, additives, and maintenance and exterior care kits.

2014 Snowmobile Models

2012 Polaris ATV Range

Racing

Polaris Racing is one of the big four factory racing teams on the World Power Sports Association (WPSA) Snocross circuit. With 44 signed riders they also run in HillCross, Oval Track Racing, and Cross Country Racing. The Polaris Racing Team won 8 different Championships in the 2006-2007 season. Arnar Gunnarsson (#26) won the Pro Open, Gústi (#10) won Pro Stock, Klara Björk (#89) won pro women at Iceland, T. J. Gulla (#44) won the WPSA Pro Stock Championship, Ross Martin (#837) won the WPSA Pro Open Championship, and Kylie Abramson (#87) won the WPSA Pro Women's Championship. Gabe Bunke (#74) has won the USCC Pro 600 Class Championship and the USCC Pro Open Class. Dustin Wahl (#74) won the Pro Ice 440 Championship, the Pro Ice Formula Championship, and the Millennium 600 Open championship, and John Cyr III (#99) won the 2004 USCC Pro 700 Class Championship. Most all of the Polaris Racing riders drive the IQ 400, 600 or 700 Racer, depending on the class and the event.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vehicles of Polaris Industries.

• Polaris Industries official site