Is Textron selling Arctic Cat to John Deere?

[RAMSOMAIR]

It’s been hard to get parts for these machines already for the last three years

 

[Hoosiersnow]

Great news for the entire industry!
Hate to see the loss of 2 manufacturers.
Once they return to full production and sales, then we can go back to bashing the brand.
Lol!

That's the way it should be.

If textron did indeed kill or sour the yamaha deal, I wonder if someone at yamaha would turn down the opportunity for their dealers to have yamacats again going forward. I think it was a good deal for cat, and wasn't bad for yamaha until textron couldn't produce enough.

 

[STAIN]

It’s been hard to get parts for these machines already for the last three years

Really? I haven't had any problems getting parts for these sleds ever. maybe it was a Canadian supply problem????

 

[journeyman]

There definitely was some conflicting information going around yesterday saying Argo bought Cat at first. But it was later pointed out it was a combination of an investment group and Brad Darling that bought them. I read later that the investment firm "Ontario Gear and Drive" is the parent company of Argo so that makes sense. Nevertheless I'm happy that Cat's have Nine Lives!!

 

[earthling]

Ontario Drive and Gear, is the manufacturer of Argo. They are owned by private equity companies which are the 'investor group'. That includes Amperion, Ocean Avenue, and Onex Falcon. PE companies love the adjacent and tuck in acquisitions (companies that share alignment) that allow them to synergize existing investments - looking for financial efficiency (they didn't say that, that's the obvious goal of every PE company). Bottom line, eventually the groups will merge at a more natural level and find the synergies (shared R&D, shared manufacturing, cross licensing, etc) that PE companies strive for.

 

[74Nitro]

Ontario Drive and Gear, is the manufacturer of Argo. They are owned by private equity companies which are the 'investor group'. That includes Amperion, Ocean Avenue, and Onex Falcon. PE companies love the adjacent and tuck in acquisitions (companies that share alignment) that allow them to synergize existing investments - looking for financial efficiency (they didn't say that, that's the obvious goal of every PE company). Bottom line, eventually the groups will merge at a more natural level and find the synergies (shared R&D, shared manufacturing, cross licensing, etc) that PE companies strive for.

View attachment 178686

Photoshopped. Using the snow to hide that there is no connection between wheels to machine.
Interesting however.

 

[earthling]

Photoshopped. Using the snow to hide that there is no connection between wheels to machine.
Interesting however.

It was actually AI generated, I leverage AI a lot in my work to do some complex math and I asked it to generate this image as a distraction from the daily grind. The prompt was something like "generate a photorealistic image of an Arctic Cat Catalyst with an Argo drivetrain bursting through a snowbank,, use the Arctic Cat colors, and the rider should be in an aggressive pose, focused on the trail ahead".. and there you go.. it made kind of a fun image.

 

[74Nitro]

It was actually AI generated, I leverage AI a lot in my work to do some complex math and I asked it to generate this image as a distraction from the daily grind. The prompt was something like "generate a photorealistic image of an Arctic Cat Catalyst with an Argo drivetrain bursting through a snowbank,, use the Arctic Cat colors, and the rider should be in an aggressive pose, focused on the trail ahead".. and there you go.. it made kind of a fun image.

Cool.

 

[journeyman]

Now the question remains how long do the Yamaha motors survive in the Cat's? My guess is when the ProCross chassis is gone unless they decide to make a wide body Catalyst much like Ski Doo did to accommodate their 3 cylinder 4 strokes. Previously Textron said no go, but now that it's under new ownership?

 

[Hoosiersnow]

Now the question remains how long do the Yamaha motors survive in the Cat's? My guess is when the ProCross chassis is gone unless they decide to make a wide body Catalyst much like Ski Doo did to accommodate their 3 cylinder 4 strokes. Previously Textron said no go, but now that it's under new ownership?

There was a 4 stroke update in development that textron stopped. How far along it was I don't know. Whether that was going to use yamaha or some kind of textron engine I don't know either. Yamaha was frustrated by lack of development and by lack of production from textron. Heidi with textron had reportedly told Yamaha if they're frustrated they can make their own chassis. I'm hoping the relationship can be salvaged - I I don't think cat can get by on just 2 stroke market share. I think it's a great sign that there will be yamacats for 2026 at least. The new owner had to make that decision.

Just my $0.02.

 

[journeyman]

There was a 4 stroke update in development that textron stopped. How far along it was I don't know. Whether that was going to use yamaha or some kind of textron engine I don't know either. Yamaha was frustrated by lack of development and by lack of production from textron. Heidi with textron had reportedly told Yamaha if they're frustrated they can make their own chassis. I'm hoping the relationship can be salvaged - I I don't think cat can get by on just 2 stroke market share. I think it's a great sign that there will be yamacats for 2026 at least. The new owner had to make that decision.

Just my $0.02.

I can't think of really anything Textron did to make AC better and yes I heard the relationship between Yamaha and them wasn't the best. I also heard that some of those engineers Textron let go were already working on the new chassis which ended up prolonging it's release.

We will never know how this would have shaped up if AC would have accepted Yamaha's initial offer to buy the company which was more than double what Textron paid. A former AC employee from TRF posted awhile back that the reason AC did not accept the offer was Yamaha was not interested in the TRF facility and would have likely moved it to one of their own elsewhere out of the state.