Polaris Industries

History

Edgar Hetteen, who was described by the Snowmobile Hall of Fame in St. Germain, Wisconsin as the father of the snowmobile, and Allan Hetteen were partners in Hetteen Hoist and Derrick Shop in Roseau, Minnesota. Edgar had dropped out of school after the eighth grade in 1934. Their employees, David Johnson, partnered with Paul Knochenmus, and Orlen Johnson, who was the first person to ride a Polaris, decided to create a vehicle that could travel through snow. These vehicles' primary use was to make hunting locations more accessible. David Johnson created the prototype in 1954 while Edgar was away. Edgar was furious. After creating it using a grain silo conveyor belt as a track, a Briggs and Stratton motor, and an old Chevy bumper for skis, they had their first snow machine. After returning from a trip, Edgar was shown the machine, but was skeptical of its value. and was disappointed that the group had spent company time and materials on the machine. The No 1 sled was soon sold to Roseau lumberyard owner "Silver Pete" H.F. Peterson for $465 in order to meet company payroll.

However, the employees continued to be focused on building snowmobiles and soon a second model was created by Allen called the Polaris Sno Traveler. Polaris was famous for copying other snowmobiles. The first looked and operated like a Bosak Power toboggan and copied their design for the 1962 Polaris L-55 after the Tee-Nee trailer companies Eski-Motor. The first production model rolled off the assembly line in Minnesota in 1956. The original models weighed close to 1,000 lb (450 kg) and moved at a speed of about 20 mph (32 km/h). They came in a two-tone paint job (white below blue with a strip or chrome trim dividing them). In order to publicize the new snowmobile and show their reliability and usefulness, in 1960 Edgar led three snowmobiles on a 1200-mile trek across the Alaskan wilderness, starting from Bethel, Alaska. The trip took three weeks, and much of the time, Edgar struggled to maintain 10 mph over the snow. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner put them on its front page. However, his absence caused problems for him with the company's board of directors. Soon after completing the trip, Edgar left the company in June and started a competing company called Polar Manufacturing in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. The company name later changed to Arctic Enterprises; in the mid-1980s it filed for bankruptcy amid fierce competition as snowmobiles became popular and other manufacturers jumped into the market. The company emerged from bankruptcy and continues on today as Arctic Cat.

Polaris began developing a smaller consumer-sized, front engine snowmobile to compete with the SkiDoo in the early 1960s. In 1964, Polaris released the Comet. However, the Comet soon ran into problems as it could not travel in all types of snow conditions. Polaris then recalled the sleds and quickly developed a new prototype to avoid bankruptcy. The new model, the 1965 Mustang, became a hit as a family snowmobile and boosted Polaris sales. Polaris continued to develop snowmobiles similar to this model throughout the 1960s-1970s, and went on to become one of the leaders in the snowmobile industry.

In the early 1980s, Polaris started creating an Indy style snowmobile with IFS and a wider stance. They continued with the Indy style sled in the 90's with the Storm, Ultra, and Trail lines, within the last few years Polaris has re-released the Indy. In 1985, Polaris introduced the Trailboss, which is considered to be the first American-made all-terrain vehicles (ATV). In the late 1990s, Polaris introduced the Polaris Rocky Mountain King (RMK)- a snowmobile specific for mountain terrain. In May 2009, Polaris announced the creation of an On-Road Vehicle Division. The new division will be devoted to the growth of Victory motorcycles and other on-road products and brands. In 2010, Polaris introduced the Polaris Rush snowmobile which had a new suspension system and better trail handling capabilities. This snowmobile is also available with retro graphics on the Rush and Iq models. In late 2005, Polaris Industries announced that it would purchase a portion of KTM Motorcycles. Through this venture KTM has developed their own ATV and Polaris has developed Sport ATVs which utilize the KTM 525 and 450 powerplants.

On May 21, 2010, Polaris announced that it was opening a new manufacturing plant in Mexico. The sister facility in Osceola, Wisconsin still remains in full operation. The opening of the Monterrey, Mexico facility is anticipated to save the company $30 million annually, with most of that savings coming from lower wages. The Monterrey facility has 3 assembly lines devoted to production of Ranger side-by-sides for global markets. The original intent of the Monterrey facility was to serve markets in the Southern US plus Mexico and South America.

In October 2011, Polaris announced an investment in Brammo, Inc., an electric vehicle company based in Ashland, Oregon, United States. Its first production electric motorcycle, the Brammo Enertia, is assembled in Ashland and sold at dealerships. Polaris continued its investment in Brammo when it participated in the $13 million opening tranche of Brammo's Series C funding round in July 2012. Polaris had been showing interest in electric propulsion, producing an electric version of its Ranger Side-by-Side and more recently buying Global Electric Motorcars (GEM). As one publication put it, "This latest move likely signals the addition of clean and quiet drivetrains to ATVs and motorcycles under the global giant's brand umbrella – snowmobiles may have to wait on battery breakthroughs before they become commercially feasible." On January 15, 2015, Polaris announced that it had purchased the entire electric motorcycle business from Brammo. Production of electric motorcycles was slated to commence at Polaris' factory in Spirit Lake, Iowa during the second half of 2015. Polaris also manufactures Victory and Indian motorcycles at the Spirit Lake factory.

In 2012, production restarted on the Indy-named sleds (stopped in 2004 with the Indy 500) with the release of the 2013 Indy 600 and Indy 600 SP. For 2014, Polaris will expand the Indy name and provide model variants for nearly all categories (the one exception being the "Mountain" class).

On April 11, 2013, Polaris announced that it acquired Aixam-Mega, a French quadricycle manufacturer.

On January 9, 2015, Polaris announced it will be opening a new 600,000-square-foot facility in Huntsville, Alabama that will employ at least 1,700 workers. Construction on the new manufacturing plant is set to start in early 2015 and should be opened by the spring of 2016. The plant will support several core processes including, vehicle assembly, chassis and body painting, welding, fabrication and injection molding.

On January 9th, 2017 Polaris Industries Chairman and CEO Scott Wine announced they would be shutting down Victory Motorcycles. They announced they will continue to honor warranties and produce parts for Victory Motorcycles for the next 10 years.

Racing

Polaris Racing is one of the big four factory racing teams on the World Power Sports Association (WPSA) Snocross circuit. With 44 signed riders they also run in HillCross, Oval Track Racing, and Cross Country Racing. The Polaris Racing Team won 8 different Championships in the 2006-2007 season. Arnar Gunnarsson (#26) won the Pro Open, Gústi (#10) won Pro Stock, Klara Björk (#89) won pro women at Iceland, T. J. Gulla (#44) won the WPSA Pro Stock Championship, Ross Martin (#837) won the WPSA Pro Open Championship, and Kylie Abramson (#87) won the WPSA Pro Women's Championship. Gabe Bunke (#74) has won the USCC Pro 600 Class Championship and the USCC Pro Open Class. Dustin Wahl (#74) won the Pro Ice 440 Championship, the Pro Ice Formula Championship, and the Millennium 600 Open championship, and John Cyr III (#99) won the 2004 USCC Pro 700 Class Championship. Most all of the Polaris Racing riders drive the IQR 440, 600 or 700 Racer, depending on the class and the event. Polaris holds the most number of wins in the World's Longest Toughest Snowmobile Race, the Iron Dog a 2,000 miles race across Alaska.

Polaris Defense

Polaris Defense, a division of Polaris Industries, produces the MRZR platform and the DAGOR.

MRZR

In November 2016, the U.S. Marine Corps signed a $2.5 million contract with Polaris to deliver 144 MRZR-D ATVs. Called the Utility Task Vehicle (UTV), it is a version of the vehicle already in use by U.S. Special Operations Command, but is designed to be diesel-powered and can run on JP-8 fuel. The Marines bought the unarmored ATVs because they can fit inside an MV-22 Osprey, enabling them to be deployed from long distances, to provide logistics support to ground combat units, assisting them to travel and transport supplies quicker and easier than previously on foot. The vehicles can carry four troops and have a small cargo bed capable of carrying 1,500 lb (680 kg) of payload. It is planned to field 18 MRZR-Ds per infantry regiment. The vehicles are to be delivered from late-January to April 2017.

DAGOR

DAGOR (Deployable Advanced Ground Off-road) is a purpose-built, ultra-light combat vehicle designed and built by Polaris Defense to meet the light-mobility needs of light infantry and special operations forces incorporating military commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and driveline system.

The DAGOR was developed under contract from elements of the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and international Special Operations Forces (SOF) customers. The design using (COTS) components enables procurement of spares worldwide. The vehicle is produced by Michigan-based Roush Industries with deliveries commencing in November 2014 with fifteen vehicles for use by the United States Special Operations Command, in January 2015 with five vehicles for the Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) to trial and deliveries were scheduled for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in April 2015.

The vehicle can be configured in up to 48 weapon different configurations using the weapons ring and multiple pintle mounts. The vehicle is powered by a light weight, commercial off-the-shelf turbo diesel / JP8 engine located at the front section. The vehicle can transport a maximum payload of more than 1,400 kg or up to nine infantrymen in support of expeditionary missions. It offers high mobility and higher speeds over rough terrains. The vehicle is certified for air drop and internal air transport by CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopter, and sling load under UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters. The vehicle supports low velocity air drop (LVAD) method.