TEXTRON OFF ROAD INTRODUCES 2018 ATV’S AND SIDE-BY-SIDE MODELS

JoeyD23

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Textron Off Road Introduces 2018 ATV’s and Side-by-Side Models
New Model Line Reflects Integration the Arctic Cat brand Into Textron Off Road

Textron announces the 2018 model line of Textron Off Road side-by-sides and ATVs. These machines offer premium performance and maximum value to off-road enthusiasts as well as those who need the hardest working machines. The 2018 model line consists of 18 models, each delivering best-in-class features and performance that reflect the innovation and durability that customers expect.


Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, is transitioning Arctic Cat side-by-sides and ATVs to the Textron Off Road brand, effective with eighteen, 2018 models.



Textron Inc. acquired Arctic Cat in March 2017, adding another powerful brand to its portfolio that includes Bell Helicopter®, Cessna® and Beechcraft® aircraft, Greenlee® professional tools, Jacobsen® professional turf-care equipment, and Dixie Chopper® zero-turn mowers, among many others. Most Arctic Cat side-by-sides and ATVs, including the popular AlterraTM, ProwlerTM and WildcatTM product lines, will now carry the Textron Off Road brand name, joining the Textron Off Road StampedeTM side-by-side to form a robust 2018 model year lineup.

“With Textron Off Road, we are marrying Arctic Cat’s legacy of high performance, reliability and innovation to Textron’s powerful combination of engineering expertise, manufacturing know-how, and Fortune 200 resources,” said Kevin Holleran, president and CEO of Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc. “Together as Textron Off Road, we are creating a new leader in off-road vehicle performance.”



The Arctic Cat brand name will remain on all snowmobile product lines.

Side-by-side and ATV production will continue in Thief River Falls, Minn., with the manufacture of Stampede models relocating there from Augusta, Ga. Production of the Textron Motors engines that power the Stampede will move from Germany to the company’s St. Cloud, Minn. production facility, which already produces several four- stroke off road engines for ATVs and side-by-sides, and two-stroke engines for Arctic Cat snowmobiles.

Some Alterra and XC ATVs, and HDX and Prowler side-by-side models, will retain the Arctic Cat brand while inventory lasts.

To avoid product overlap, the Textron Off Road Recoil® and Ambush® side-by-side product lines, as well as the OnslaughtTM ATV, will be discontinued.



Current owners of Arctic Cat side-by-sides and ATVs can continue to visit their Arctic Cat dealer for vehicle service, parts and accessories.

The Textron Off Road Model Year 2018 lineup will consist of the following vehicles starting August 16th, 2017:

Side-by-Side

o Electric
 Recoil (Recoil and Recoil iS models) CLICK HERE FOR SPECS & PRICING

o Utility
 Prowler 500 CLICK HERE FOR SPECS & PRICING
 Stampede (Stampede, Stampede X, Stampede 4 and Stampede 4X models) CLICK HERE FOR SPECS & PRICING

o Sport
 Wildcat Trail (Wildcat Trail, Wildcat Trail XT and Wildcat Trail LTD) CLICK HERE FOR SPECS & PRICING
 Wildcat Sport (Wildcat Sport XT and Wildcat Sport LTD models) CLICK HERE FOR SPECS & PRICING

o Performance
 Wildcat X (Wildcat X, Wildcat X LTD and Wildcat 4X LTD models) CLICK HERE FOR SPECS & PRICING



Additional 2018 Changes

The Stampede is no longer available in a “base” non-EPS model. The remaining model names have changed as follows to align with the larger family lineup:
Stampede EPS is now Stampede
Stampede EPS+ is now Stampede X
Stampede XTR EPS is now Stampede 4 Stampede XTR EPS+ is now Stampede 4X

Side-by-sides retaining the Arctic Cat brand while inventory lasts:

  •  HDX 700
  •  Prowler 700
  •  HDX Crew
About Textron Off Road
Textron Off Road side-by-sides and ATVs are designed and built to handle the toughest jobs and most demanding trails. The Textron Off Road product line includes Wildcat, Prowler and Stampede side-by-sides and Alterra and XC ATVs. Textron Off Road is a brand of Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company.
 

Rynomx785

Active Member
Jun 21, 2015
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"Packing more power into a 4x4 than you thought possible"

Looks like the Wildcat X is the same thing still....Are they aware of what Can-Am and Polaris are doing???
 

ssb4

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Feb 13, 2015
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"Packing more power into a 4x4 than you thought possible"

Looks like the Wildcat X is the same thing still....Are they aware of what Can-Am and Polaris are doing???
They used to own Polaris ... I think they know what they are doing.


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Rynomx785

Active Member
Jun 21, 2015
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Not questioning if they know what they are doing. I am questioning their HP claim seeing as they are nowhere near what Can-Am and Polaris currently offer.
 

Glamisfan

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Oct 26, 2009
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Textron


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Made me google it, and sure enough!

in the 1970s

After its one stumble, the company grew rapidly in the boom years of the 1960s. So pronounced was the growth that it outstripped the management skills of the owners, who had to decide whether to hire professional managers or sell the company. In 1968 Polaris was sold to Textron, a diversified company holding E-Z Go golf carts, Bell helicopters, Talon zippers, and Schaefer pens. The company kept Polaris in Roseau and continued snowmobile manufacturing, but also began limited research and development on watercraft and wheeled turf vehicles. Herb Graves of Textron became president and Johnson stayed on as vice-president to oversee production.

During the 1970s Polaris began to solidify its reputation for high-performance snowmobiles. In pre-Textron years, Polaris had purchased its snowmobile engines from a number of suppliers. With the entry of Textron, Polaris was able to bring on Fuji Heavy Industries as its sole supplier. Fuji engineers went to Roseau to work on building a high-quality engine specifically for Polaris. Increasingly, the Polaris product lines were being noticed. The TX Series set a standard for power and handling in racing and gained popularity with recreational riders. Introduced in 1977, the liquid-cooled TX-L was a strong cross-country racing competitor. Polaris also introduced the RX-L in the mid-1970s, which carried the first Independent Front Suspension (IFS) and produced winners on the racing circuits shortly after its debut. The 1970s also marked the opening of corporate offices in Minneapolis, with product development and production staying up north.

The sport of snowmobiling grew by leaps and bounds in the early 1970s; enthusiasts in the snowbelts of the United States and Canada now numbered more than a million. The growth rate for the industry was 35 percent per year, versus 20 percent for other recreation industry manufacturers. In 1970, 63 companies manufactured snowmobiles in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan. Bombardier held 40 percent of the market, with an additional 40 percent shared by Arctic Cat, Polaris, Scorpion, and Sno Jet. About one-third of the machines manufactured in North America in the early 1970s were made in Minnesota.

Factory-backed racing teams found Polaris support in the days of Allan Hetteen and Textron, but the death of a Polaris team member in 1978 effectively ended the program. From 1981 on the company sponsored a modified racing program with independent racers. Hill climbs, stock and modified oval racing, snow and grass drag racing, and cross-country endurance racing tested the limits of the machines and appealed to customers. Racing was an important part of engineering research and development as well as public relations and product marketing.

Yet in the late 1970s, despite everything that favored the industry--including regular improvements in safety and an expanding trail system that would eventually rival the U.S. Interstate Highway System in total miles--the snowmobiling boom was about to go bust. Companies began shutting down or selling off their snowmobile divisions in the face of declining sales. Names such as Scorpion, AM, Harley-Davidson, Johnson & Evinrude, Chaparral, and Suzuki would no longer be seen on snowmobile nameplates. By 1980 even Arctic Enterprises, the number one manufacturer, was in trouble. High energy costs, economic recessions, snowless winters, and overexpansion eventually drove all but three manufacturers of snowmobiles out of business. Industry sales slid downhill from 500,000 units annually in the early 1970s to 316,000 in 1975; 200,000 in 1980; 174,000 in 1981; and 80,000 in 1983.

Management Buyout in 1981

Textron wanted out of the snowmobile business, too. Textron president Beverly Dolan, who had been president of Polaris during its first years with Textron, told Polaris's then-president, W. Hall Wendel, Jr., to sell off the company. A deal to sell the Polaris division to Canada's Bombardier fell through, however, because of the threat of antitrust action by the U.S. Department of Justice. Liquidation was on the horizon. This opened the door for a management group leveraged buyout led by Wendel, who believed that there was a market for snowmobiles and that seasonal snowfalls would rise again. Polaris Industries was created in July 1981, and a shutdown of the Roseau plant was avoided. (Still, the company began production with just 100 workers after the buyout.) Also at this time, plant workers voted the union out and Polaris proceeded to establish a Japanese labor model of worker participation, with a crew that had firsthand knowledge of the machines and their capabilities. Times were still tough, though: the 1982 product line consisted of the 1981 model with some detail changes, and barely more than 5,000 machines were built that season. The same year as the buyout, Polaris attempted to purchase Arctic Cat. When the deal failed, Arctic Cat shut down, leaving Polaris, at least for a while, as the only American snowmobile manufacturer.

The first years following the management buyout from Textron were lean and characterized by a skeleton factory crew and tight budgets. But the Textron debt was paid off ahead of schedule and the snowmobile line was expanded and improved. The company also expanded into Canada to become more price competitive and to create a stronger dealer network. Five years after the buyout the company had reached sales of $40 million and employed 450 people. A Polaris innovation of the early 1980s was the "Snow Check" early deposit program. Polaris encouraged its dealers with incentives to make spring deposits on machines for preseason delivery. For the first time snowmobiles were built to dealer orders rather than manufacturer forecasts, which had been resulting in excess inventory. Other factors helping the industry along at the time were advancements in clothing technology, winter resorts welcoming snowmobilers on winter vacations, and new engineering on the machines producing quieter, more reliable vehicles. By 1984 there were 20 million snowmobilers in the northern snowbelt and mountain regions using the vehicles for rescue and outdoor work as well as recreational and sporting events.

One of the highlights of the 1980s was the introduction of the Indy line of snowmobiles, which became so popular that other high-quality Polaris sleds, such as the Cutlass, were phased out. Good suspension, special features (such as handwarmers and reverse drive), powerful engines, and reliability all pushed Polaris into the number one position in the market. The Indy 500 was named the "sled of the decade" by Snowmobile magazine.

The 1990s and Beyond

Into the 1990s Polaris continued to improve the performance, ride, and reliability of its machines by introducing such features as the triple-cylinder and high-displacement engines, extra-long travel suspensions, and specialized shock absorbers. The machines of the 1990s were a long way from the industry's early noisy, pull-start models, with uncertain braking and questionable reliability. In 1990 Polaris held 30 percent of the snowmobile market, manufacturing 165,000 units. Arctco Inc. held 25 percent of the total market, followed by Yamaha and Ski-Doo (Bombardier, Inc.), both at 22.5 percent.

Just as the snow outside Polaris's doors had provided a proving ground for snowmobiles, the summertime swampland of the far north provided a place for testing wheeled turf vehicles. The company built and sold two-wheel tractor-tired bikes in the middle to late 1960s as it was testing diversification into such areas as lawn and garden products, single and two-person watercraft, and snowmobile-engined go-carts. The Textron acquisition and merger with E-Z Go golf carts ended formal ATV product development, so testing stayed underground until after the buyout. The company then tried but failed to sell private-label ATVs to other large companies. Still hoping to better utilize its manufacturing facilities, the company brought out two ATV designs, a three-wheel and a four-wheel with automatic shifting, which caught the interest and commitment of distributors. Added features such as racks and trailers appealed to farmers, ranchers, and lawn maintenance workers. ATVs made perfect sense for Polaris in that they shared engines and clutches with snowmobiles, could be marketed through the same dealers, and represented a seasonal line manufactured in fall and winter months for sale in the summer, just the opposite of snowmobiles.

When Polaris entered the ATV market all the major manufacturers were Japanese, led by Honda. Polaris ATVs, a combination recreation-utility vehicle, avoided direct competition with the leaders. The majority of the two million ATVs in use in the mid-1980s was in the United States and Canada. The first production run of the Polaris ATVs was a resounding success and quickly sold out to dealers. Eventually, production of three-wheel vehicles would be curtailed by all manufacturers, in response to reports of rising accidents and deaths and action by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Polaris ceased manufacture of its three-wheel adult version after its first year of ATV production. In 1990 the retail cost of a four-wheel ATV ranged from $2,400 to $4,000 and Polaris controlled about seven percent of a shrinking market. By the end of 1993, however, ATV sales made up 26 percent of entire sales by product line. ATV manufacture was now year-round, with a dedicated production line, and had the potential to surpass snowmobile production. Because of marketing and distribution that now extended beyond the snowbelt to tractor, lawn and garden, used car, and motorcycle dealers, Polaris had become a key national as well as international player in the broader market of recreational vehicles.
 
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jajl22

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Jun 5, 2015
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my guess is doing whatever they can to sell off old inventory before releasing new vehicles, if in fact they still intend on releasing the Wildcat XX to market. Things can change when companies change hands
 

sand shark

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Mar 30, 2009
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The real deal from Textron is coming early next year. I believe February is when that said the Wildcat XX will be released.

Next year could be fun if you are in the market for a sport SXS.
 

sand shark

Well-Known Member
Mar 30, 2009
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West Hills, CA
I've heard "next year " so many times about a new Wildcat that it's not even funny anymore!
Me too. However, at the dealer meeting they it was stated February 2018. I am looking forward to seeing what they offer. We need another manufacture to get into the sport SXS game.
 

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