how rumors get started
Amsnow
Our erstwhile online guy found this piece in the skunk works of Amsnow Online. It was drawing some popular discussion so we decided to track down some particulars on the image. Sorry, to say, but we'll all be disappointed as the specifics on this image's creation date back at least four years and are said to be wishful thinking and paper only.
Seems the image is the creation of Strategix ID, a product development company based in Bozeman, Montana. The firm has won numerous awards, including a gold award from the Industrial Designers Society of America and presented in September 2000 for the design of the TR5 exercise bike.
The design firm is special in part due to its location. It is the only design firm in a four state region of Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota. Owned by two native Montanans the firm employs more than 20 people in Bozeman, Lawrence, Kansas and Seattle. Among its clientele have been a variety of technology firms and consumer goods companies such as Polaris Industries.
In point of fact, the NXR concept sled design was drafted about the time Strategix ID was helping Polaris transition its Indy Lite 340 into the Indy 340 and better integrate it into the Indy "family."
Designed as a low-end "mom and pop" snowmobile, Polaris sought the services of Strategix ID to help the new Indy 340 into the rest of the Polaris lineup. The project required a new hood design that would become the first Polaris snowmobile hood to be created in Pro E, a computerized engineering design technology.
In addition to the Indy 340, Strategix ID also assisted Polaris in the launching design work for its Hurricane sports watercraft of the mid to late 1990s. This was the first single passenger high performance watercraft for Polaris.
In point of fact, the NXR concept sled design was drafted about the time Strategix ID was helping Polaris transition its Indy Lite 340 into the Indy 340 and better integrate it into the Indy "family."
Designed as a low-end "mom and pop" snowmobile, Polaris sought the services of Strategix ID to help the new Indy 340 into the rest of the Polaris lineup. The project required a new hood design that would become the first Polaris snowmobile hood to be created in Pro E, a computerized engineering design technology.
In addition to the Indy 340, Strategix ID also assisted Polaris in the launching design work for its Hurricane sports watercraft of the mid to late 1990s. This was the first single passenger high performance watercraft for Polaris.
If you visit the Strategix ID website www.strategixid.com, you'll note that the firm has used three Polaris concepts to promote its capabilities as an industrial design firm. Do you really think a "soon to be" product would be allowed to serve as self-promotion on the firm's website? Guess again!
Polaris sources confirmed the fact that the NXR sketch work was done about the same time as the Hurricane and Indy 340 projects and that the imagery is just that - imagery and not an existing product.
Heck, a few years ago at Ski-Doo's design center we saw some nifty concept sketches that Bombardier designers had done a decade before that would make cool runners today but never saw the light of an assembly line. This "what if" design concept sketching is pretty common in many industries.
Sorry, to squelch this rumor, but rest assured that Polaris will have something cooked up to celebrate the 50th anniversary. It just won't be the NXR as imagined by Strategix ID. So, please don't hassle your local Polaris dealer with this web fantasy.