TAKING DELIVERY ADDS EXCITEMENT TO SEASON

Love the new spindles on the Catalyst sleds.
Super sexy and look like something H.R. Giger would have created for an Alien-series sci-fi movie.

Hopefully Cat will still be around mid-winter to unveil 2026 models with a new / innovative rear skid. Ski Doo, Polaris, and most recently Lynx, have captured the spotlight in recent years with new and top performing rear suspensions. Reviews on rear skid performance consistently place Cat in 4th place.

I see my picture! I’m with my RXC towards the bottom..can’t wait to get it on the snow

Also committed sleds to our Veterans ride in end of January, first part of February. Has nothing to do with sleds. Poop and doop have so much carry over ATV/ UTV, that producing more product until the old is sold makes zero sense.

I see that the article on the layoffs / furloughs at Cat was pulled from Snow Goers’ website. Wonder what’s up with that.
Also, any mention of the layoffs / furloughs was conspicuously absent from other snomo rag websites. Found that odd as well.

More heads rolled today

For those of you looking for some “Inside” information here on any business happenings between Textron and Arctic Cat, you won’t find us posting anything. Like you, nothing has been shared with us, nor do we expect anything would be when it comes to decisions made about the business, or its future. What we do know, ArcticInsider has always been an ambassador for the brand and it’s great products, but most importantly, we care about all the talented employees who work (and have worked) there, the incredible dealers, and all of us, the consumers. It saddens us greatly to hear reports of our friends who have been affected by the layoffs and we wish them the best. Thank you for continuing to follow ArcticInsider. We truly appreciate you.

In case anyone thought textron gave a crap about ac or snowmobiles. They killed the race department a few weeks after saying they wouldn’t, and too close to the beginning of sx and xc to have any chance of getting support somewhere else.

Looking back over Textron’s ownership of Cat is like reading a book on how not to do it. From a consumer’s stand point it seems like they never understood, or were never willing to do, what it would take to be successful in powersports. There were so many obvious missteps and mistakes – you have to wonder how bad it has been behind closed doors.

The Catalyst and the 858 motor are enormous achievements for the people at Cat who no doubt created them on the most shoestring of shoestring budgets. Imagine what those people could have done with a more willing management.

Regardless of how this story turns out I sincerely appreciate the dedication of everyone who has worked at Cat through the Textron era. Let’s hope Cat has another life under another ownership group.

Textron obviously has no clue what it takes to be a leader in the powersports industry.
If you want to play, you gotta pay.
Textron is one of the biggest industrial conglomerates in the U.S.
It’s got tons of available cash that would make Cat the preeminent player in the off-road and snowmobile markets but apparently senior management is clueless as to what’s required to be successful or they never cared.

We reached out to Brandon Haddock at Textron, and he relayed the following official announcement:
“We will resume production as planned after the new year to produce units under existing customer commitments. However, once that build is completed, we will suspend operations indefinitely, and will release our manufacturing employees at the Thief River Falls and St. Cloud facilities. Employees who work through their specific completion date will be offered severance benefits.