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2024 Prototypes and Spy Photos

the raised "eyebrow" of the middle sled indicates catalyst or a reflection

After last night's Ski-Doo release, it's obvious that the only models that can take their turbo four stroke is a wider chassis. And AC is sort of following suit building the body work around the engine. If there is room for a four stroke in the catalyst, I would be surprised.

Polaris, on the other hand, left room in the matryx for Four stroke and even the sled rag guys are saying the S4 has room for a turbo in there. I would expect to see a 130hp S4 Boost for 2024
M&M Racing in Norway have alredy buildt turbo on this :) This is with a little turbo, they are now putting in a bigger turbo and will raice the rpm. This motor has big potensial.
 

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Messed some photo editing. The blue sled looks like a catalyst chassis to me
3CA5C9DE-3506-4B22-8878-49AF42B1DB89.jpeg
 
I’m just basing this on my experience working mostly in motorsports since the late 90’s. Yamaha would be foolish to walk away from the snowmobile market IF they can continue to stay mostly out of the chassis developing business. As long as Textron ( or another brand) is placing Yamaha engines in a sled and calling it a “Yamaha”, they’re smart to keep themselves in the market. They won’t make up the sales loss with other products, unless they find a lot more buyers and increase production capacity. Simply put, sleds are a low risk and low cost investment. Just like private labeled Kroger Raisin Bran. It’s probably made by Post or Kellogg’s, so Kroger doesn’t need their own factory. Just pay for each shipment and make the profit.
I don’t see Yam in a pure Catalyst sled. Definitely not in 2024. Maybe a derivative in 2025, but they could also retain the procross chassis for a couple more years or as long as Textron will dedicate an assembly line to it. With a three way collaboration existing with BRP(kids sleds), we could even see a Yama-Doo if BRP isn’t too proud to build it.
Sadly I think this is what we’ll see in a few weeks. A bunch of blue, non-current Arctic Cats. Yamaha will see old Pro-cross chassis sleds until they move to an electric sled lineup. Ski-doo already released a limited built, electric sled for ski resort use. I think Yamaha will be poised to do the same in a few years.

Hopefully they will be on the forefront of technology with EV sleds. The good thing from their current market share perspective is they don’t have anything to lose going this route. I’m not opposed to a battery sled, as long as the range isn’t terrible and the price is reasonable.
 
Sadly I think this is what we’ll see in a few weeks. A bunch of blue, non-current Arctic Cats. Yamaha will see old Pro-cross chassis sleds until they move to an electric sled lineup. Ski-doo already released a limited built, electric sled for ski resort use. I think Yamaha will be poised to do the same in a few years.

Hopefully they will be on the forefront of technology with EV sleds. The good thing from their current market share perspective is they don’t have anything to lose going this route. I’m not opposed to a battery sled, as long as the range isn’t terrible and the price is reasonable.
Unfortunately range will not be great (yet) and price will be stupid.
 
Unfortunately range will not be great (yet) and price will be stupid.
Initially the EV models likely won’t be particularly desirable, just like EV automobiles today. But, they will get better quickly. I don’t plan on being an early adopter but I’m certainly not opposed to the technology. Prices on current sleds is stupid. I’d rather be getting something new and spaceage for my money then the same old stuff that is very maintenance intensive and doesn’t tend to last a long time.
 
The Yamaha faithful are really grasping at straws for anything at all from Yamaha. With Skidoos Water Meth Turbo 850 and Polaris's Boost it really is becoming hard to find anything new from Yamaha to generate any excitement to go forward with....sad indeed.
If Doo took the 900 Turbo, bumped it to 1000cc's with beefed up internals, got rid of the horrible intake layout, and gave it a hackable ECU so it could be tuned to winder power, it'd be awfully hard to come up with reasons for me not to buy it.

It would just be no power steering and the goofy looks.
 
Initially the EV models likely won’t be particularly desirable, just like EV automobiles today. But, they will get better quickly. I don’t plan on being an early adopter but I’m certainly not opposed to the technology. Prices on current sleds is stupid. I’d rather be getting something new and spaceage for my money then the same old stuff that is very maintenance intensive and doesn’t tend to last a long time.
I can't see how an electric sled will ever be possible for the average trail rider.
 
I can't see how an electric sled will ever be possible for the average trail rider.
I agree. In my part of the world we regularly remote ride anywhere from 80 to up to well over 100 miles, even up to 150 miles, between fuel stops with no options to refuel and that's only one way. It will be a very long time before EV tech can supply anything that would be of any use to our type of riding. EV vehicles are similarly not practical around here in winter months.
 
I can't see how an electric sled will ever be possible for the average trail rider.
With the current battery technology no, they aren’t there yet. Will it be in 5 years? Probably not but it’ll be pretty nice once it becomes mainstream. Right now for the type of riding I like to do, a Taiga would work out just fine for me. I’m not going to order one, my plan is to sit things out for the next five years to see how things shake out. Unless the cost of sleds comes down I won’t participate anymore. They are far too expensive for what you are getting regardless of brand. I’m hoping Yamaha is the first big OEM to transition to electric. They already have an EV trails motorcycle that looks like it works really well.
 


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