Arctic Cat shared some news with its dealers today, and reading it for us, was like taking a serious gut punch from our favorite brand. In case you haven’t seen or heard, the letter is included below. If you have thoughtful questions regarding this news and the brand, please leave a comment below and we’ll see if we can try to get answers.
I was in the market for a new 4stroke, looked around, and decided, with a heavy heart to buy an ACE. I’ve been with AC since 84, except with a brief fling with a Polaris in the late 90s. I usually keep my sleds for 5 or so years, and didn’t like the way things were going with the mothership, so I bailed. I would rather have green in my garage. The yellow is distracting. I hope someone will buy the remnants of this iconic brand and resurrect it. If so, I would likely return, if I don’t age out first.
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
The handwriting was on the wall before the ink dried on Textron’s agreement to buy Cat.
Textron is an aerospace & defense conglomerate that operates under a business model totally different from the seasonal and weather-driven business model of the powersports industry.
Hopefully a buyer that understands the powersports business steps in, buys the company, accepts the seasonality & sensitivity to the weather, and funds the company from a long term perspective to be successful.
Exactly! Well said!
My heart goes out to all the great people in TRF I’ve met and talked to over all these years. This is unfortunate, and sad, but completely predictable and preventable.
I was one of the aggressively hopeful and excited when textron announced the take over. The crew in TRF was full of folks who loved what they did, and would bend over backwards to take care of customers. They had a ton of exciting new tech, and products in the pipeline. All they needed was someone to come in, get rid of the board, metz, and the top few layers of management who decided to waste huge $$ on everything but new products.
At the first dealer show with textron, John Collins stood on the stage and said that is exactly what they planned on doing, had a list of new products, and would be releasing them on a quick schedule (every 6 months or quicker).
It wasn’t long after that they started burning the house down, changing leaders more often than underwear, getting rid of engineers, closing the race department/special services building, changing the name to textron off road, shelving all the projects, crushing prototypes, and eliminating a vast number of dealers.
While the industry went to 850s and turbo 2 strokes and customers begged for a new chassis and engine to compete, they got rid of even more engineers, and cut the R&D budget even further.
If the Catalyst had been released on time back in 2020 they could have been challenging poo for #2 in sales by now instead of shutting the doors. Sadly those who said the catalyst was too little too late at its release ended up being correct.
Agreed.
I was gonna make a big post with all sorts of stuff I said about how this was going to happen over the years, and why I left this site, but in fact, I don’t care. All that matters is that I saw it coming seven years ago. Good riddance.
Sad,sad news, feel bad for all the great employees, dealers, and loyal customers who have bleed green throughout the years, hopefully this cat has a few more of it’s 9 lives left. Maybe another chance to start over again
Well said, Noni Moose and Krom.
I’ll add this: People love a great story. This is how the Second Act of Arctic Cat’s story ends. Now is a brief intermission before Act Three.
It is very obvious to everyone Textron was not the right company to own Arctic Cat. The snowmobile industry needs Arctic Cat to survive in someway shape or form. Going from 4 brands to 2 isn’t good for anyone in a suffering snowmobile industry. Textron completely missed the boat on updating Cat’s SxS lineup and was 2 years to late with the catalyst. They milked it for what it was worth and now want to discard it. Arctic Cat is a good brand and has a loyal following. I own a Catalyst and its a great snowmobile. Hopefully there is a company or a group out there who sees that value. Hell I’d even take Polaris as an owner and have them build the sleds like Cat did for Yamaha. CF moto is a good option to. Warranty, service, parts, and definitely the dealers are a big concern to me. Crossing my fingers the Cat name lives on.
Some problems started before Textron. While no layoffs occurred there were rumors they were barely able to make payroll before Textron stepped in. Back in late 2011, they had enough cash to buy out Suzuki’s shares of $79 million, still had had $60 million of cash on hand and zero debt. What happened between this date at the Textron buyout? Must have been some real poor upper management decisions.
I can’t imagine the moral of the few remaining in the plant right now.
This is so sad.
Noni and Krom are spot on.
I think the frustration being expressed towardTextron is fair, but the Cat ship was taking on water long before that. Unfortunately, the mix of a troubled company with a troubled economy has brought them here.
Still, the Arctic Cat brand is a brand worth saving. I don’t know where it goes next but I believe the Arctic cat story is not over and I wish the best for the company and the dealerships.
It was obvious Textron was clueless from the start. It seemed like they didn’t want to listen. They had the Stampede and bought Weber engine. They were based out of Georgia, so selling dirt products could be that hard. The reality is they killed the dirt line worse than they killed the snow line. Their marketing and sales approach was embarrassing. Sitting Georgia didn’t help as they had no clue how to connect with their current customers let alone attract new customers. I recall John Collins at Haydays trying to sell Textron to the crowd and wanting us to believe that Bell Helicopters and Military Aircraft/Vehicles were going to benefit Arctic Cat. Clearly didn’t happen. He also thought that the Stampede and future products were going to over take Ranger in sales. Did he really think they had a plan to do that and that the failful would believe it? The Stampede died along with his job at Arctic Cat. The next few internal hires from Georgia were at least quiet, but obviously clueless. Must feel good to have a hand up your butt being a Textron puppet. This must be a classic case study at Textron in what it takes to get promoted. Good riddance!
I feel for the people who are losing their jobs at the plants and I hope they can land on their feet. As always, the workers are suffering for the failings of management and there was endless failings in Textron’s management of Cat.
At the end of the day it’s safe to say that Textron had a golden opportunity to rebuild Cat into a robust company and they failed. The powersports market is crappy now, but it wasn’t when Textron took over and for the first 6 years or so of their tenure.
I am not optimistic that there is a path forward for Cat. Ending production has to be the most desperate move for a manufacturing company and I can’t understand why anyone would want to buy a manufacturing company that isn’t capable of manufacturing. Not only will a potential buyer have to completely rebuild the manufacturing side of Cat, they will have to do it in a slumping market and in a crappy economy. And the management side of Cat – purchasing/engineering/development/accounting etc. has also been cut to shreds and will need lots of help.
I think you hit the nail on the head. Such great products produced from this company-it’s a shame it could all potentially end this way.
I would like to see a merger of Polaris and Arctic Cat. While we would likely lose the Arctic Cat brand name under such a scenario, we would at least have parts for our Cats. And a merged company could use the best features of both brands making it a formidable foe to Ski-Doo.
While I haven’t ridden my new Catalyst machine yet, I really like the looks of it. As long as I can get parts for it I will keep riding it.
I feel terribly for the employee’s, dealerships and their employees, suppliers and their employees, and everyone who put forth their best efforts to keep Arctic Cat alive and thriving.
But hey… EPS, shareholder value and ROI always comes first, right Textron? A-L-W-A-Y-S
Please, do the powersports industry and all the loyal employees and customers an enormous favor by selling Arctic Cat
Crnr2Crnr, Arctic Cat IS for sale, and it has been for awhile. Every list of potential new buyer names we’ve all seen floating on the internet, have looked at buying AC, and no takers. If the snowmobile market were more stable year-after-year, Im sure someone would have snatched it up by now. Hopefully AC lives on because its a helluva brand, but plays in a helluva challenging powersports market.
Sad to see but not surprising. Textron stock earnings will take a dip and the 200 million or so charges they are taking is designed to price the company to sell or liquidate.
Hopefully some entity that is dedicated to consumer powersports and has an affinity for the Arctic Cat brand will purchase it from Textron before too many dealers bail out. It looks I will be riding my Tcat for a very long time going forward. My condolences go to all the Acat employees and hope the future of the company gets resolved quickly.
The condition Textron is leaving Arctic in by shutting down the factory and permanently laying off everyone except a very small service/warranty support crew makes it tough to be purchased as an ongoing concern unless that company is already in the business. The talent, experience and workers are all gone. I really wish someone would buy it and bring it back to it’s glory, but sadly I think we really are down to 2 manufacturers of snowmobiles. Time will tell I guess.
The best thing we can hope for if it’s sold in pieces is that Polaris will step in and buy the brand, intellectual property, chassis and engine patents/designs. At least we will have dealer support at Polaris dealers and there is money in parts. Arctic Cat also has some good designs that they can use to improve their products. Polaris is a good Minnesota company and they and their dealers know snowmobiles.
It’s possible if they own the brand and want to offer Arctic Cat branded products, they could, but obviously they would most likely be re-badges out of Roseau, MN.
Unfortunately the Cat excects that wasted the 60 million that was left are at fault and should be ashamed of themselves for this disaster of a great company. A company that rose from the ashes with least amount of capital compared to the competition. At Cat it was all legend and heart. A leader in many aspects of the powersports industry. All flushed by greed. Textron had no heart, didn’t care of legacy. All lies and profit. Hopefully Cat will rise again and rise again in the right hands that understands more of than just greed. If the beginning of third act is like the beginning of the first two, can’t wait to see it. Such a sad shame, my heart goes out the people that dedicated their lives to Cat. Selling, manufacturing, servicing and enjoying, deeply be missed.
Just hoping Yamaha or Argo buys arctic cat, possibly polaris could own cat and keep the name. Cats were really just getting back to something. Catalyst seems really good, a little more fine tuning for the 858 and a turbo version and cat is really back on the map. Had such high Hope’s when textron took over but really they did a terrible job. But on the bright side even though powersports on a whole are in a lull, a possible new buyer walks right into owning some really good potential and at this point not alot of work needed to keep delivering really good snowmobiles.
I dont understand why textron wouldn’t continue making sleds while trying to sell arctic cat. Especially If this winter ends up being a decent one. I would think a running company would be easier to sell
Sadly, Textron is draining what’s left of Cat’s working capital into its cash coffers by winding down operations (that will be the “sale proceeds”) and then they will sell off the name, patents, and plant and equipment for whatever they can get. This is the way to maximize proceeds when a company is worth more dead than alive. They probably already talked to the obvious parties to buy it as a going concern, and there were no takers. I’m a bit surprised that Bass Pro/Tracker didn’t step up since they build so much for them. Bet they are going Chinese. So sad, agree with most comments above, you need passion to be in this business and a big corporation especially a publicly traded on has none of that. Very bad day for all of us who bleed green. I have 7 newer Cats in my family’s fleet so worried about parts, especially plastics, clutches, etc. that are Cat specific.
Dave is likely correct in his assessment of why Textron is doing what they are doing as far as winding down production and dismissing the employees. Textron purchased Arctic Cat because I assume they “thought” at the time they could use it to build up their UTV line and possibly access government and/or retailer contracts. They wanted results without any investment. How in the world the Catalyst and the 858 project ever got the green light I have no idea. Maybe it was a last ditch effort to make the business more attractive to sell? No clue. It was a bizarre decision so late in the game to spend millions completing a total revamp of their snowmobile line.
I really think at this point the only companies that will have interest are ones that can buy the pieces they want. The only thing of value is the snowmobile line if another company wants to add it to factories and product lines they already operate. Sadly if there are Arctic Cats in the future I don’t see them coming from the factory in TRF. Argo could build sleds as a sideline at their factory in Canada, CFMoto at their plant in China, Yamaha at their plant in Georgia, etc. I’m not saying any of those companies will do that, but it’s a possibility. They might be interested in a product, but not the factory or facilities.
The last thing is there’s always private equity that buys distressed companies. However that’s never a good long term bet for any company. Plus, private equity likes to buy going concerns not shut down businesses that have released everyone.
This all makes me really sad. Really sad for all the employees in TRF and sad for all of us who love Arctic Cat. I believe Troy Halvorson and his crew up in TRF really did the best they could do with Textron holding the purse strings. I really like my new Catalyst Riot 600. It’s a great performing sled. Best handling and riding sled I’ve ever had and it feels good. The refinement is leaps and bounds above my last Procross chassis sled. I’m trying to be a realist in my thoughts about the situation, but I still have hope that someone will come in and save them.
Agree 100%, Dave and Tom.
To all AC people who worked on the Catalyst, you definitely have been a part of a project that you can be proud of. I know you’ll land on your feet.
I agree with most all the above comments
I believe if textron would have updated the manufacturing facility and really backed cat development sales would have improved.
Yes it’s very sad for all the cat employees who are affected by this prayers everyone can find a decent job.
Keeping my fingers crossed maybe Johnny Morris or another company will see the value in the Arctic Cat Name. Ford was able to leverage their blue oval back when the auto companies were hurting and GM and Chrysler went bankrupt and had to be bailed out hopefully Cat can survive
The one advantage that Ford has always had in bad times is the family still controls the company through a special class of stock. I’ve watched interviews of the Executive Chairman Bill Ford and he’ll tell you when your name is on the building and product your passion is 100 times that of just another company executive. Cat was a company that used to have people involved like Ford has the family involved. Sadly most of them are gone. I do know Troy Halvorson is very passionate about the brand, but sadly it’s those above him at Textron that control it and they could care less except increasing shareholder value. That’s why I’m nervous about them accepting offers to run it as a going concern because the bean counters may very well deem the dead company parted out worth more than a live one sold.
I’m still keeping hope that Cat gets saved one way or another.
The only surprise to me is that it took this long. I have voice my experience and opinion of the E-Z-Go morons many times here, especially that weasel John Collins.
As someone else pointed out, the seeds were planted before Textron arrived. Chris Twomey is a very nice man, and really did have a passion for the company, but he and the boatd got “dumb, fat and happy”, as the saying goes, and were content to pay bigger dividends, rather than plow money into R&D and product. Meanwhile, Polaris had the hammer down, and left us in the dust.
When Twomey retired and the brought in Jordan they rushed the Wildcat out with plenty of teething pains, and the dreaded H2 engine, which caused a black eye. On the dealer side, Jordan also pushed some pretty unethical policies, and the massive inventory buildup, then the profit killing dumping.
It was obvious Metz and company were there just to shine things up, wasting resources on that absurd headquarters move, etc, instead of product development.
Enter the E-Z-Go morons. It’s hard to untangle the RG Pro debacle. XX was late to arrive, and thsy pulled the plug on the turbo and four seater. No Trail. No Sport. The Havoc belly flopped like a fat man in a stock tank. The Prowler becomes a Mule. On and on. The rest is history.
Let’s hope someone with a clue can restore Cat’s Pride.
Since the takeover is there any Textron executives that actually live in Thief River Falls