2014

[Off Trail Mike]

Exiting the sled market?

I don't know what announcment Yami will have on the 20th, but I think us North Americans assume WRONGLY that sled sales will continue to decline due to global warming or some other annoying factor like aging demographics.

I looked at European sales last year and they are up ..... alot! Scandanavia and Russia are leading the charge, and we haven't even considered China and Northern Asia yet.

What about South America? No sledding opportunities there right? Andes would be crazy awesome.

North American sled sales may have steadied, but globally, there is still opportunity to grow the sport, and I am sure Yami and everyone else has considered this potential.

I'll bet they stay in the game.

OTM

 

[RIGIDONE]

I don't mean to steer the conversation in a different direction, but is it possible that Yamaha might be phasing out its snowmobile line entirely? It could explain all the high rebate offers right now. Maybe the big meeting in Minneapolis is to alert the dealers that Yamaha will strictly be providing engines for Cats in the future and nothing more


I know its far out there, but is it possible?

^^^^^this my friends is why u dont smoke crack..^^^^^^^ .....lol..lol..lol..

 

[Sg3540]

I would think the pucker factor in thief river is fairly high right now. I think making sleds that have fit and finish issues and what appears to be clutching issues is one thing, and it's not good, but, I think people will tolerate that stuff to a point. But making their own engines is an entirely different animal. I dont think the buying public would tolerate really big time engine failures. Whoever is building those things will have to supply a greater depth of quality. If they do it in house, and I'm not saying they can't, but if it's in house, I bet the guy in charge of that has had a sleepless night here and there. If there is anywhere that a company can sink or swim overnight in this business it's in the engine department. Having to build an entire lineups of engines is a monumental undertaking. In this day and age it may not be worth the tooling and intellectual labor to do it themselves. I know they have had time to do their own thing but, if you think about the engineering in the current lineup of sleds from all oem, wow that's a lot for a company that hasn't built their own stuff for sleds to keep up with.

 

[yamajammer76]

If Yami is buying 51% of Cat they will call the shots
it is that simple. People call it a merger but it goes like this

everyone who want to keep Yami say aye
everyone who want to keep Catsay aye
Ok Cat you loose.
This is an over simplification but one thing is for sure they did not buy Cat to get out of the biz

I have been seeing this pop up in different places on the net over the last 24 hours that Yamaha is purchasing a controlling interest (51%) in Arctic Cat Inc. I'd love to see some proof. "They" say it is coming from the "reps" but who are those reps?

The whole idea isn't crazy. The two businesses would compliment each other nicely and it would allow Yamaha to make a major expansion into the power sports industry outside of motorcycles. The only reason I don't think there is a lot of truth to it is I just don't see AC selling a controlling interest. The only possibilities are if they are worried a neighbor from the North is staging a hostile take-over or there is some knockout lawsuit brewing where they need more backing.

Remember the only reason a Corporation exists is to make a profit and to build value for the shareholders. If the board feels going forward that the company can be stronger because it is backed by a much larger parent company then a case can be made. Some might say what would Yamaha get out of this deal? Well for them it dramatically increases their footprint especially in North America and allows them to effectively compete with Polaris and BRP in different product segments.

Corporations do internal studies all the time. If Arctic Cat feels at some point they can no longer grow and take marketshare as a standalone entity they may be looking for a partner. Who else would partner with them and who else has interest in the same product categories?

I'm not saying I believe any of it, but the 51% rumor is definitely making it's rounds right now.

I would think the pucker factor in thief river is fairly high right now. I think making sleds that have fit and finish issues and what appears to be clutching issues is one thing, and it's not good, but, I think people will tolerate that stuff to a point. But making their own engines is an entirely different animal. I dont think the buying public would tolerate really big time engine failures. Whoever is building those things will have to supply a greater depth of quality. If they do it in house, and I'm not saying they can't, but if it's in house, I bet the guy in charge of that has had a sleepless night here and there. If there is anywhere that a company can sink or swim overnight in this business it's in the engine department. Having to build an entire lineups of engines is a monumental undertaking. In this day and age it may not be worth the tooling and intellectual labor to do it themselves. I know they have had time to do their own thing but, if you think about the engineering in the current lineup of sleds from all oem, wow that's a lot for a company that hasn't built their own stuff for sleds to keep up with.

It takes size and scale in this day and age to pull things off like that. You have to be large enough if you make a misstep you can regain your footing. I don't think a lot of people realize how small Arctic Cat Inc. really is compared to their competitors. Polaris had a very tough time trying to do it and net sales wise they are about 4-5 times larger. Are the shareholders willing to gamble?

 

[billbies]

Let's not possibly overlook the obvious ac keeps saying we r building motors in house, who's to say that's not yamaha motors being built in house ? Could happen and allow Yammi to not have an exchange issue
Maybe Yammi will be assembled in us and instead of building there own building use someone else's and supply ac motors only just another thought

 

[yamajammer76]

Let's not possibly overlook the obvious ac keeps saying we r building motors in house, who's to say that's not yamaha motors being built in house ? Could happen and allow Yammi to not have an exchange issue
Maybe Yammi will be assembled in us and instead of building there own building use someone else's and supply ac motors only just another thought

Well if Yamaha-Arctic Cat becomes a reality then yes they would be using in-house engines anyway you look at it.

I know they are building large ATV engines in their St. Cloud plant, but even then all of their smaller ATV engines are being imported from Kymco of Taiwan. Heck I think even some of their smaller ATVs are just re-badged Kymcos.

 

[AKrider]

Based on what I heard tonight in my little circle, I now believe the rumors that Cat and Yamaha will be announcing a partnership. I also believe it will involve Cat's using some Yamaha engines and Yamaha using a Cat chassis. I don't know any specifics but they will be working together in the future on sleds. I don't believe the whole 51% rumor however. I speculate it is an agreement, similar to the one Suzuki and Kawasaki formed some 10 years ago. They shared some models between companies to fill gaps in their line-ups. They worked together to develop certain models.

 

[Ak Yammy]

I just hopped onto Yami's site to see if they have a teaser up. Nothing yet.

 

[getchuk]

Im checking the blog once in a while on the top of it is a vid with lots of close-ups, a great place to put a teaser in, but nothing so far.

 

[jaydaniels]

I would think the pucker factor in thief river is fairly high right now. I think making sleds that have fit and finish issues and what appears to be clutching issues is one thing, and it's not good, but, I think people will tolerate that stuff to a point. But making their own engines is an entirely different animal. I dont think the buying public would tolerate really big time engine failures. Whoever is building those things will have to supply a greater depth of quality. If they do it in house, and I'm not saying they can't, but if it's in house, I bet the guy in charge of that has had a sleepless night here and there. If there is anywhere that a company can sink or swim overnight in this business it's in the engine department. Having to build an entire lineups of engines is a monumental undertaking. In this day and age it may not be worth the tooling and intellectual labor to do it themselves. I know they have had time to do their own thing but, if you think about the engineering in the current lineup of sleds from all oem, wow that's a lot for a company that hasn't built their own stuff for sleds to keep up with.

I have to agree with you that quality issues when making motors are more serious but it's amazing what people will tolerate when they love what they have. Look at doo and their crank issues on the 800's. Probably one of the best selling sleds. Merger or no merger Yamaha just needs to make something that people want.

 

[low slung]

My prediction is a server crash on Feb 20,2013 at noon .

 

[sheetwright]

Oh ya about three weeks to go Cat took the first plunge at a high hp and a much lighter sled, ski doo followed with setting the bar on suspensions and rumors of a 160 hp N/A four stroke to go against our yamacat. Makes you wonder what Polaris will have to do to their rush line up to compete. Cause it looks like the other three are stepping up like in the late 90's and early 2000's. I'm sure a lot of the yamaha faithful will not be happy when they eliminate models you have fallen in love with. Some may also not be happy to ride a sled with a sno pro skid, cause they are blue to the core. Guess it is something we have to deal with every 8-10 years, but hopefully for the better.

 

[bottlerocket]

I don't mean to steer the conversation in a different direction, but is it possible that Yamaha might be phasing out its snowmobile line entirely? It could explain all the high rebate offers right now. Maybe the big meeting in Minneapolis is to alert the dealers that Yamaha will strictly be providing engines for Cats in the future and nothing more


I know its far out there, but is it possible?

They would not have told mountain dealers to stay home if they are dropping the sled line.

 

[3wheelerdude]

For what its worth : I was at my dealer last night and he told me that the only information he got from Yam that was 100%, was that they were not removing any models, but adding something new to the line-up.

He referred to it has : "I'm going to Minnesota to see what's under the blanket."

 

[Sportsterdanne]

I have to agree with you that quality issues when making motors are more serious but it's amazing what people will tolerate when they love what they have. Look at doo and their crank issues on the 800's. Probably one of the best selling sleds. Merger or no merger Yamaha just needs to make something that people want.

what crank issue ?
they are built that way and the buyers accept it...