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Arctic Cat Announces $27 Million in Facility Investments

Posted by Ross Halvorson
on Thursday, May 14, 2015

0


Arctic Cat has announced plans to invest nearly $27 million in facilities and staffing at its two Minnesota manufacturing facilities.

A statement from Arctic Cat indicates the majority of the investment will be used to improve the company’s Thief River Falls facility where a new production line will be added, along with 39 new jobs. About $400,000 will be invested into its St. Cloud engine manufacturing facility for expansion, as well as adding 10 positions.

“We are excited to strengthen our Minnesota manufacturing footprint and position the company for continued long-term success,” stated Arctic Cat’s President and CEO Christopher T. Metz. “We will be adding a new state-of-the-art production line in Thief River Falls and expanding our engine manufacturing operations in St. Cloud, in order to meet the demand for our innovative, quality products.”

Is this news snowmobilers should be excited about? Maybe. Probably. Sure, why not? Upgrades to manufacturing processes typically lead to upgrades in product build quality. Adding staff in a production capacity typically means there are plans to produce more of something.

According to Cat’s statement, approximately $26 million of the investment is going towards “a new paint line and other facility improvements” in its Thief River Falls facility. It’s hard to get excited about literally watching paint dry. But the remaining smaller investment is a little more intriguing.

$400,000 is set to be invested “in expanded assembly capability” at the company’s Engine Manufacturing Division in St. Cloud. The words ‘expanded assembly capability’ seem to sound an awful lot like ‘we’re going to be building more engines’.

Before you sled heads get too excited, keep in mind Arctic Cat produces ATV engines at their St. Cloud facility as well as sled engines. But it’s hard for us not to guess what this means for the snowmobile side of things. The timing of the announcement certainly makes us think it’s possible to have everything in place for the 2017 snowmobile production run.

Will the Cat faithful at long last get their coveted homegrown 800cc engine? Will Arctic’s new low-HP 4-stroke see expanded use in a three-quarter-sized sled model? Is there an end in sight to the Yamaha-Arctic Cat engine/chassis partnership that would require Cat to produce a new 4-stroke?

Like everything else, we can only wait and see, but, if nothing else, it’s a promising development that keeps the rumor mill churning.

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Tags: Arctic Cat , Snowmobile News

 

[BigDogrx1]

Who cares----its wrong COLORS for any interest here.

 

[yamadoo]

Hopefully more vipers!,!

 

[BigDogrx1]

27 million more and still chasing the RX1, that's what they should bring back.

 

[09nytro]

27 million more and still chasing the RX1, that's what they should bring back.

Now that's funny !!!!!
I don't think anyone is chasing the rx1 !!!
I do like some good humor in the morning !

 

[Sasquatch]

Cat made some money selling Yamaha's and is reinvesting money back into the company with improvements and upgrades. Makes sense!

 

[whitedust1]

Yamaha OEM agreement with Cat over in 5 year term so Cat tooling to go it alone with engines & new sled platform ...nothing more than that & exactly what Cat & Yamaha have been been saying from the get- go. We are the ones that keep speculating other than accepting what has been announced.lol

 

[BigDogrx1]

Now that's funny !!!!!
I don't think anyone is chasing the rx1 !!!
I do like some good humor in the morning !

Now that's funny !!!!!
I don't think anyone is chasing the rx1 !!!
I do like some good humor in the morning !

Nytro, always respect your elders, my 03 RX1 might be your nytros Grandparents, I do believe the RX1 Started the revolution.
NOW THATS FUNNY!

 

[09nytro]

Lol, ok I will remember that ...