Arctic Cat in Trouble

[Paul27]

Why aren’t we angry the other two don’t give monorail options?

We love to mod….
I could easily like many others swap to a twin rail. Mine would be out of my spare parts even.

If a monorail was actually the next big thing, Poo and Doo would be moving in that direction.

 

[volcano buster]

The physical sled aside, the dealer network seems to be another piece to this puzzle. AC seems to be dropping dealers that will be hard to rebuild.

 

[jcjc1]

If a monorail was actually the next big thing, Poo and Doo would be moving in that direction.

like anything else, if it was great more/most sleds would have it.

 

[MTN_VIPER]

If a monorail was actually the next big thing, Poo and Doo would be moving in that direction.

Cat has patent on it, so I don't believe that they can. I'm sure when the patent expires, they will come out with their own version of the monorail.

Kind of reminds me of A arm front suspensions. Years ago, Cat had a patent on A arm front suspensions for snowmobile use. The other 3 manufacturers were all trying to convince us that their trailing arm suspensions were superior to A arms. Then as soon as Cat's patent expired, all four manufacturers went to using A arms and haven't looked back!

 

[IDspud]

Exactly what I was gonna say.

 

[Sheetmetalfab]

Few reasons from someone who has been on the other 2 brands and always intrigued by the Cat.

1. My riding group has probably been made up of some 60+ Doos and Poos over the last 10yrs... 4-5 Cats in that span. Saw more issues with those 4-5 Cats than all the other sleds put together. Mostly between the crank and driveshaft. Intake issues. Electrical issues.

2. I disliked alot of things on the Proclimb. The body work was awful. Intake was awful. Boards were meh. Chaincase and oil tank setup left lots to be desired. Controls, engine, and the overall feel through the bars made the sled feel dated. Ascender was a little better, but by that time the other brands had 850s, and I know many of you disagree but the 800 Ascenders I rode felt weak in comparison to the 850s. I spent some time on an Alpha in some super deep snow and the intake was horrible. Bog city, almost unrideable.

3. Now the last 4 years they have had an 800, while everyone has turbos. Nothing more needs to be said about that.

Catalyst looks like a great sled with the exception of a few first year hiccups. I hope Cats finds a good buyer, improves the dealer network, and gets a turbo released. Buyers haven't been shying away from Cat because of social media, I actually think it's insane so many of you think that. They have been behind for a long time and do a poor job of listening to their (potential) customers.

On point.

Very similar experience with our riding group.

 

[Jaynelson]

Finer points aside, I just don't see the business case. To even have a chance at improving sales any appreciable amount, you would need to spend a ton of money up-front at a guaranteed loss on marketing, dealer development, and product development (need a turbo model to be competitive if nothing else). And you need to do that just to see if you can grab enough market share to (have a viable business). And you need to do this against the other 2 (much more successful) brands, while also ignoring that they are also struggling, and are set to be struggling for the foreseeable future. Even in the best-best case scenario, any profits are (at best) hugely deferred. So unless someone needs a revenue dump for taxes or something similar....I just can't see anyone buying it to make money.

 

[boondocker97]

People worried they bought a one year production sled, no support, poor resale value, etc...

Meanwhile I'm over here wondering if I can swing one a dealer has this year or if I should gamble on being able to order one in the spring!

 

[BeartoothBaron]

That's exactly what's happening. The top 10% are getting much richer due to crazy stupid tax cuts for rich people and corporations, just like they did in the late 1800's. They were Robber Barrons then, and they are Robber Barrons now. The top 10% prefer jet airplanes and mega yachts. Sleds are far too much work, raw nature, and danger. If they want snow, they fly to Dubai.

The bottom 80% are too poor to buy sleds, they're lucky to have a TV to watch football. The middle class is shrinking fast, mostly becoming part of the working poor. The only solution is highly progressive income and wealth taxes, like we had from the 40s to the 80s.

Nope, the solution is a fair tax rate that applies to everybody equally. The tax code is riddled with carve-outs and loopholes the average person can't use - true - but they wouldn't be there except for the high upper-bracket rates. And even with the "tax cuts for the rich," the top 1% still pay 45% of personal income tax. Who can tax cuts possibly go to when the bottom 50% of earners pay about 3% of taxes? Tax the rich unequally, and they'll find ways around it, leave, or just live off what they've got already. Corporate taxes are just passed onto consumers. Finally, the real theft from the middle class is convincing them to lock 15% of their earnings away while dollars are being printed (or just digitally created), inflating away most of the future value while the smart money moves to tangible assets. A stable currency and firmly limited taxation (25% should be the absolute ceiling) are essential to a functioning (let along strong) economy, and we're burning that candle at both ends.

 

[NHRoadking]

People worried they bought a one year production sled, no support, poor resale value, etc...

Meanwhile I'm over here wondering if I can swing one a dealer has this year or if I should gamble on being able to order one in the spring!

Based on this language in the Arctic Cat announcement:

Production of future model years will depend upon the outcome of Textron's evaluation of
strategic alternatives for the business.

I'm not so sure there will be a spring order for Cat next year.