Arctic Cat is coming back

[mikeexplorer]

ARCTIC CAT BRANDED SIDE-BY-SIDES AND ATVS ARE COMING BACK

Passion can change people. Change minds. And in the end, it can take us back to where our family has been all along. Because Arctic Cat fans and powersports enthusiasts demanded it, the Arctic Cat^® name will be returning to ATVs and Side-by-Sides in 2019.

With a legacy of innovation, performance and fun, our legendary lineup of ATVs, side-by-sides and snowmobiles are built to take you anywhere you want to go — from carving up mountain snow on a Mountain Cat Alpha One in British Columbia, to flying over the dunes in Glamis in a Wildcat^™ XX. And these high-performance vehicles are still made proudly in Thief River Falls, Minnesota.

 

https://www.arcticcat.com/the-cat-is-back/

 

[Ajmboy]

That's pretty cool, wonder what will happen with the Textron name and if some of those models will switch back to Arctic Cat. Here's the video.

 

[mikeexplorer]

It was consumer demand. Nobody liked the Textron name. My local dealer told me customers were looking for leftover machines rather then buying current year because they wanted the Arctic Cat name. Any machine he had that still had the Arctic Cat name was sold out.

Before the name change, I pulled the trigger and bought a new machine for Michelle in 2017. Her old machine was still running well but I wanted to sit back and wait to see what the change was going to do, since it would be a few years before I would need another machine. (The black quad I showed plowing is her old machine)

Mike

 

[JacobSlabach]

is arctic cat still usa made?  And did Textron change that or is textron usa made too?  I know for me, I would have said that textron was some chinese junk before I knew that is was pretty much the same as Arctic Cat.

[mikeexplorer]

Yes, still made in the same plant as Arctic Cat. In fact Textron moved some other engine production from Germany to the USA. Theif River Falls, MN is where the plant

is located.

Some lower end models of Arctic Cat were partially produced by Kymco, but they are a Taiwanese company , not Chinese. The two machines I have that are Kymco Built have been good. One is over 8 years old with almost 10,000 miles on it and still runs well.

 

Mike

 

[bimmer]

Worst quad I ever had was an arctic cat. The suzuki engine underneath ran great, but the unique carb with exceptionally poor quality rubber components and no parts support was frustrating. Then the terrible design to engage the four wheel drive was always causing trouble. Finally the plastics were of a quality I have only before seen on chinese bikes, once they got a crack of any sort it was like a party. Had to carry zip ties and a cordless drill with you or your bike would be naked after checking the cows.

[mikeexplorer]

I have always had good luck with Arctic Cats. My first one I put over 16,000 miles on it and then sold it. A friend wanted it for parts, the engine was rebuilt because it was sunk in a serious mud hole the prior year. It still had original axles, diffs, 4wd worked. Plastics were cracked, but this quad had several roll overs and collisions. The frame was broken in two spots and welded so it was not possible to trade it in. He transplanted the engine to another machine and stripped it for parts. My girls original quad has almost 10,000 miles on it and still runs well. It is now our backup machine and snow plowing machine.

Never had an issue with parts and the service manuals are available for free.

Mike