Have you guys heard this news about Arctic Cat?

[cannondale27]

I think its a disgrace that Yamaha snowmobile owners have to see what Cat is offering then hope Yamaha paints it blue, one would think all the new engineer's that Yamaha hired a few years ago could come up and design their own new chassis for the true blues that have supported and praised their engines and sleds over the years before Yamicat which was alway's a cut above the rest, its time Yamaha made their move or at least let their faith full know their future snowmobile direction, if Cat sleds is their future direction why waste the money painting them blue, today's new Yamaha sled owners are really not sure who they belong to or can have bragging rights, but when something goes wrong with their so called new Yamaha sled then their head seems to clear and they no exactly who to blame then, seen it first hand over and over on this very site.

Only reasons for me are this site,Yamaha Warranty and hope of a true Yamaha that’s as good as what I have.

 

[cannondale27]

I can’t imagine Yamaha releasing at the same time as cat unless they have been able to keep the best secret and they have developed a new chassis and are going to blow us all away. I personally don’t think that is happening. Plus I would have to imagine the two have some type of agreements on this stuff. In reality Yamaha provides cat with one motor now as far as I know. Where every chassis, plastics and anything else besides the motor on a Yamaha is cat. Seems to me that cat definitely has more control. And even the two stroke is basically 100% cat. I love my viper all around besides skis but that issue was rectified. I feel like at this point that Yamaha will potentially become an engine supplier of four strokes to cat and there snowmobile division will be eliminated. Or textron will give up on sleds and Yamaha will take over the snowmobile side of that. Ultimately I believe it comes down to the almighty dollar and who is willing to stay in the game and try and compete with Polaris and doo. I’m probably rambling but at some point this relationship has to end. It’s similar to Ford and mercury, or gm with Pontiac Oldsmobile ect. They all were the same with different badges.

Plastic is Beamis. They just made some dumb cuts too. WI company.

 

[74Nitro]

Love my Catamaha!!

 

[Wannaviper]

I keep thinking of something my dealer told me some time ago, and that was that Yamaha was getting the rights to the Pro Cross chassis. Maybe that was just gossip, or just a guess, but if Cat is coming out with a new chassis for 2021, one possible result would be that Cat will be out of the Pro Cross altogether by 2022, and Yamaha will take it over and produce it on their own. I think that a Pro Cross chassis produced with some Yamaha engineering modifications and Yamaha quality control would be one heck of a sled!

 

[whitedust1]

I keep thinking of something my dealer told me some time ago, and that was that Yamaha was getting the rights to the Pro Cross chassis. Maybe that was just gossip, or just a guess, but if Cat is coming out with a new chassis for 2021, one possible result would be that Cat will be out of the Pro Cross altogether by 2022, and Yamaha will take it over and produce it on their own. I think that a Pro Cross chassis produced with some Yamaha engineering modifications and Yamaha quality control would be one heck of a sled!

Think about it TRF has all the tooling for the procross what is Yamaha going to do assemble in a shack out back? Less money for both companies to have separate chassis and differently bent plastic. Different graphics is cheap and profitable. If there is still a partnership an announcement will be forthcoming in November or one would think Yamaha is done. 2020 looked like mostly 2s for AC and 4s for Yamaha and maybe that same separation will continue.

 

[74Nitro]

I keep thinking of something my dealer told me some time ago, and that was that Yamaha was getting the rights to the Pro Cross chassis. Maybe that was just gossip, or just a guess, but if Cat is coming out with a new chassis for 2021, one possible result would be that Cat will be out of the Pro Cross altogether by 2022, and Yamaha will take it over and produce it on their own. I think that a Pro Cross chassis produced with some Yamaha engineering modifications and Yamaha quality control would be one heck of a sled!

Think about it TRF has all the tooling for the procross what is Yamaha going to do assemble in a shack out back? Less money for both companies to have separate chassis and differently bent plastic. Different graphics is cheap and profitable. If there is still a partnership an announcement will be forthcoming in November or one would think Yamaha is done. 2020 looked like mostly 2s for AC and 4s for Yamaha and maybe that same separation will continue.

Yep, from an assembly line and cost point of view it would make no sense to have two different chassis/suspensions.

 

[Yamajon1]

I think they are going to try and separate the brands more so they can maintain more of an individual brand identity. I also think that they will remain partners in that czar will build the sleds for Yamaha. Keeps there plant busy and Yamaha doesn’t have to make the investment in a assembly line. I could see Yamaha keeping the pro cross and refining it more to there standards and Cat keeping there new stuff for themselves. I too miss the old days of the all Yamaha sleds but that being said my Viper is the best sled I’ve ever owned and I’ve had nothing but Yamaha’s since the early 80’s. It’s not the same as Ford and Mercury or Chev and Olds. Those pairings were all co owned. Cat does not own Yamaha or vice versa there just business partners in a global economy trying to stay in this business in a way that’s most profitable to them

 

[whitedust1]

I think they are going to try and separate the brands more so they can maintain more of an individual brand identity. I also think that they will remain partners in that czar will build the sleds for Yamaha. Keeps there plant busy and Yamaha doesn’t have to make the investment in a assembly line. I could see Yamaha keeping the pro cross and refining it more to there standards and Cat keeping there new stuff for themselves. I too miss the old days of the all Yamaha sleds but that being said my Viper is the best sled I’ve ever owned and I’ve had nothing but Yamaha’s since the early 80’s. It’s not the same as Ford and Mercury or Chev and Olds. Those pairings were all co owned. Cat does not own Yamaha or vice versa there just business partners in a global economy trying to stay in this business in a way that’s most profitable to them

It makes no difference to Yamaha if AC introduces a new 2s chassis and suspension since only offering performance 4s engines since 20o3. It seems obvious that 2s /4s is the obvious product line separation that Textron and Yamaha have agreed. Probably more of the same or Yamaha will need to go it alone which seems highly unlikely due to high costs and low market numbers.

 

[20/80]

My understanding is Yamaha merged with Cat because Yamaha lost their plant in Japan because of a natural disaster, they needed time to realign before they start producing their own sleds again, that's where Cat came in to the picture and the use of their chassis till Yamaha was back up and running producing their own chassis, Yamaha's motors were part of the deal for the use of the pro cross also, now time has passed and I know that when the ceo's of Yamaha Japan makes a decision it is carefully made and followed to the letter, that's why I think there is a glimmer of hope for us true blues, that's why the small limited one style line up from Yamaha, I feel something big is going to happen, now either they are exiting the sled division altogether or a brand new cutting edge high tech pure Yamaha chassis with some new boosted engines and models like we have never seen before that will shock the sled industry, they have done this before.... history sometimes repeats itself, that's what i'm waiting for.. not a updated pro cross.

 

[biffdotorg]

I may be leaning on the rumor mill a bit too heavily, but I would bet money that the Snocross season will be telling of the long term AC/Yamaha relationship.

I don't know if Duluth will be an indicator, but I truly believe that we will see a surprise at one of the early events. As most of the Arctic Cat crowd have given up on a factory team of course, and Yamaha has not seen a factory team in a long time. I smell a known name coming back and hanging his hat on a collaboration sled in this suspected new chassis. And releasing a 2021 model line up may just allow AC to race in a division that may only include "production" sleds. (ie, most of the line so far is same old, with a few "to be announced" models to be released)

They have done mid-season releases in the past and it didn't require them to label them 2 years out. They didn't release a race sled at Haydays, so this leads me to believe that the "Trouble Maker" marketing may be a tease to a late release 2020 for this year's season, or an early release for 2021 that they may produce enough to qualify to race. I don't know the fine print on those rules to put 2 and 2 together, but AC not in racing is just unheard of.

The fact that the "old guard" race division is gone now, either means they were given the heave ho for a new team, or migrated to a new brand (Yamaha maybe)? But seeing a blue SnoCross sled with a CTEC2 in it may be possible, or as mentioned in other threads, the revival of a 4-stroke Yamaha powered SnowCross sled. We all know that would be tough to be competitive.

Nothing would get more folks to Blue/Green eyes than an all new race sled with both MFG's tech in it. Especially if piloted by a well loved racer.

 

[20/80]

You could be right that Cat has to have so many new chassis made and in the dealerships before they are allowed to race it, I think the Cat -Yamaha partnership is almost over, what Cat comes up with for racing Yamaha will not have their tech into it, Yamaha the past 6 years have not been sitting idle, even though it looks that way with their line this year, but you have to look at the signs, they moved their headquarters to Canada near the snow belt, they hired a all new team of engineers and rumor has it the brothers that invented the m 10 suspension is working for Yamaha, Cat dropping the 7000 series from their line up also Yamaha not showing up to some of the shows that they always attended in the past, Yamaha has been busy the last 6 years designing and testing new cutting edge products, this new chassis Cat is expected to release in Nov they could be trying to compete with what Yamaha has ready to pull the wraps off and shock the snowmobile world. hang in there true blues

 

[biffdotorg]

No 7000 is not a surprise at this time. In fact, I could see an NA 998 as part of that late release they are talking about. If they call it a 7000, that would be a mistake. As big of a mistake of keeping the Apex name on the 2011+ Apex.

Yamaha will move towards standardizing on fewer engines, and the 998 in NA and boosted flavors would allow for that. Especially since the NA 998 is already in the AC products, and that is most definitely not going away any time soon. The dirt folks love the Wildcat XX.

I'm prepping for a disappointing higher performance Yamaha 2 stroke, and it being a re-skinned AC with CTEC2 800. Sorry, it makes the most business sense if Yamaha wants to follow the path of the Norseman.

PS: AC uses a Yamaha engine in the 120. Isn't the 200 a Yamaha as well?

 

[20/80]

I heard the 200 engine was made by Subaru small engines just like the 708 in the 16-18 Yamaha grizzlies, Yamaha bought them out, do you think the Sidewinder name for the last few years is becoming a mistake, the Norseman path Yamaha has taken is pretty much a carrot on a stick held in front of a horse to make it move forward, the 998na and the 998 turbo is the only engine Yamaha is suppling Cat, you will see Textron suppling more engines for Cat soon, there maybe a new engine from Textron with this new chassis release in Nov for Cat.

 

[whitedust1]

Ok Kennedy said Cats still in racing but downsized the team and overhead costs. Unless he lied that has been answered.

Cat and Yamaha never merged they had an OEM agreement with each other for engines and chassis. Neither company has indicated any continuing or renewed agreement it had a 5 year term. Enter Textron with an inherited agreement and who knows where it goes from here?

Imo separation of product lines via 2s and 4s makes a lot of sense for both brands in the short term. I too think Textron will start introducing their own engines maybe a 4s sooner or later.

If we have a good snow season AC has a good chance to get back on track if warm and snowless winters inventories will be a huge problem for them.

Where Yamaha is in all this is anybody’s guess no statements from Textron or Yamaha.

 

[STAIN]

If Yamaha comes out with a cutting edge chassis that would be the biggest sno-mo news in a LONG time!!!!!