yamajammer76
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2005
- Messages
- 625
- Location
- Black Hills, SD
- Country
- USA
- Snowmobile
- 2024 Arctic Cat Riot 600 1.75
Honestly I don’t see John Deere buying it to just shut it down. Textron just spent millions of dollars on a brand new chassis and engine. If Polaris or BRP bought it yes they would shut it down, but there is no incentive for Deere to do so. Remember everyone said that Textron would pull the plug on sleds. It’s pretty silly they threw millions into new product if that was the plan. Now if you said they put millions into new product to make it more attractive to a buyer then you’d be correct. Textron once did that 45 years ago when they came out with the Indy and then put Hall Wendel in charge with the mission to sell Polaris. Instead the executives at Polaris came together to buy it from Textron, but Textron’s intent was to sell. The new Indy made it more attractive as does the Catalyst and new 858 for Cat.
Deere has stated before they would like to increase production of light consumer goods. Those mowers you see at Lowe’s even the low end are built by John Deere. Some Gator production is contracted out because they don’t have the capacity at their Horicon, WI factory. Also, farmers and construction people are large markets for the snowmobile and sport dirt products. They have the money and their schedules usually work well for this type of recreation. If I had a dollar for every farmer or contractor I met out riding snowmobiles. On the dirt side they also use the products in their business especially for the utility models like the Gator. The problem is Deere doesn’t have sport models for their customers.
John Deere would not be purchasing for the dealers. They already have a strong dealer network. It’s actually an advantage for Deere that Cat has such a wimpy dealer network right now. There would be John Deere dealers that would be happy to take on recreational products if it was an option offered to them. It helps drive traffic to the dealers in the off season. I doubt they’d change the branding of the snowmobiles away from Arctic Cat, but I could easily see the dirt products become John Deere. Using the John Deere brand on them is a lot different than Textron Off Road. Nobody knows what Textron is. It’s a parent company. John Deere is an extremely strong brand with tons of brand recognition.
I’m not saying Arctic Cat branded snowmobiles will last forever, but I think everyone saying that John Deere would be buying it just to axe the line are not correct. As far as an acquisition goes, Cat is healthy from an inventory standpoint. Ski-doo and Polaris have thousands of non current models sitting at dealers. Cat has a few hundred at best. Yes, long term Arctic Cat will probably fall like Yamaha did and then BRP will get aggressive enough on Polaris they will also get out of snowmobiles. Ski-doo being the last brand left would be like a wet dream to those guys even if prices went through the roof and product development stalled.
Regardless what happens I’m looking forward to riding my new Catalyst Riot 600. It’s a well engineered and built sled from everything I have seen. I’m excited to see how it performs. There was someone who wrote about taking a factory tour recently in TRF and the line workers commented they really liked building the Catalyst because it’s a much easier sled to build than the ProCross. I like hearing that. Simplicity is good.
Deere has stated before they would like to increase production of light consumer goods. Those mowers you see at Lowe’s even the low end are built by John Deere. Some Gator production is contracted out because they don’t have the capacity at their Horicon, WI factory. Also, farmers and construction people are large markets for the snowmobile and sport dirt products. They have the money and their schedules usually work well for this type of recreation. If I had a dollar for every farmer or contractor I met out riding snowmobiles. On the dirt side they also use the products in their business especially for the utility models like the Gator. The problem is Deere doesn’t have sport models for their customers.
John Deere would not be purchasing for the dealers. They already have a strong dealer network. It’s actually an advantage for Deere that Cat has such a wimpy dealer network right now. There would be John Deere dealers that would be happy to take on recreational products if it was an option offered to them. It helps drive traffic to the dealers in the off season. I doubt they’d change the branding of the snowmobiles away from Arctic Cat, but I could easily see the dirt products become John Deere. Using the John Deere brand on them is a lot different than Textron Off Road. Nobody knows what Textron is. It’s a parent company. John Deere is an extremely strong brand with tons of brand recognition.
I’m not saying Arctic Cat branded snowmobiles will last forever, but I think everyone saying that John Deere would be buying it just to axe the line are not correct. As far as an acquisition goes, Cat is healthy from an inventory standpoint. Ski-doo and Polaris have thousands of non current models sitting at dealers. Cat has a few hundred at best. Yes, long term Arctic Cat will probably fall like Yamaha did and then BRP will get aggressive enough on Polaris they will also get out of snowmobiles. Ski-doo being the last brand left would be like a wet dream to those guys even if prices went through the roof and product development stalled.
Regardless what happens I’m looking forward to riding my new Catalyst Riot 600. It’s a well engineered and built sled from everything I have seen. I’m excited to see how it performs. There was someone who wrote about taking a factory tour recently in TRF and the line workers commented they really liked building the Catalyst because it’s a much easier sled to build than the ProCross. I like hearing that. Simplicity is good.
rbig18
Pro
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2012
- Messages
- 140
- Country
- USA
- Snowmobile
- SR Viper ltx se
If it happens it is sort of like when IH made the Scout. I would have to assume it was the same argument. Get their regular customer base a reason to visit the dealer.
I go to the deere dealer year around for one reason or another, they sell a lot of equipment for winter use. My buddy has an entire fleet of deere equipment that only gets used for snow removal. Having said that, the local box stores are probably not moving as much deere, but the local tractor guys are full of big equipment that is getting serviced for next season.
yamajammer76
TY 4 Stroke Junkie
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2005
- Messages
- 625
- Location
- Black Hills, SD
- Country
- USA
- Snowmobile
- 2024 Arctic Cat Riot 600 1.75
It’s hard to tell what if anything is going on. Employees have reported John Deere has been looking at the factory, but even if that’s true it could simply be they are looking for a new company to contract build their Gators. Something is feeding the latest rumor and whatever it is has people talking. Companies look at other companies as acquisition targets all the time and many times it all falls through and nothing happens.
