Polaris Industries
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| Polaris Industries | |
|---|---|
| Type | Public |
| Founded | 1954 |
| Headquarters |  Medina, Minnesota, USA |
| Key people | Thomas C. Tiller (CEO) |
| Industry | Motor vehicles |
| Products | all-terrain vehicles snowmobiles |
| Revenue | 1.78 billion US$[1] |
| Website | polarisindustries.com |
Polaris Industries (NYSE: PII) is all-terrain vehicles and snowmobile manufacturer based in Medina, Minnesota, USA. The company also manufactures motorcycles through its Victory Motorcycles subsidiary.
Robin (a subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries, which is the owner of Subaru) develops and supplies all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and snowmobile engines for U.S.-based leisure equipment maker Polaris Industries Inc, it is important to note that starting in 1997, with the introduction of the "twin 700" Polaris started the development and production of in-house produced powerplants, know as the "Liberty" line of engines, now found in many models across their current production lines. This production makes many Polaris products 100% American made. (Although Fuji Heavy Industries now also maintains a US based production plant in conjunction with Polaris so that all engines are now American Made)
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (January 2007) |
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 that have seen great success on the ATV racing circuit.
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[edit] Corporate history
Polaris is credited as the first maker of production snowmobiles. Edgar Hetteen and Allan Hetteen were partners in Hetteen Hoist and Derrick Shop in Roseau, Minnesota. David Johnson partnered with Allan and Edgar Hetteen, to create a vehicle that could travel through snow. These vehicles' primary use was to make hunting locations more accessible. The employees worked overtime to finish their concept model. After creating it using a grain silo conveyor belt as a track and an old Chevy bumper for skis, they had the first snowmachine. They sold it to "Silver Pete", the lumber yard owner, for $465. A second model was created, called the Polaris Sno Traveler. The first machines rolled off the assembly line in Minnesota in 1956. The original models weighed close to 1000 lb. and moved at a speed of about 20 mph. They came in a two-tone paintjob (white below blue with a strip or chrome trim dividing them). Polaris is also the top selling brand for automatic quads.
Edgar left the company in June 1960 and started a competing company called Polar Manufacturing in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. The company name later changed to Arctic Enterprises. That company continues on as Arctic Cat.
[edit] 2008 models
Performance
- IQ Shift
- 700 IQ
- 600RR
- 600 Dragon IQ
- 700 Dragon IQ
- Turbo Dragon
Crossover
- 600 Switchback
- 700 Switchback
- Turbo Switchback
- 600 Dragon Switchback
- 700 Dragon Switchback
Deep Snow
- 600 RMK 144
- RMK Shift 155
- 600 RMK 155
- 700 RMK 155
- 700 Dragon RMK 155
- 700 Dragon RMK 163
- 800 Dragon RMK 155
- 800 Dragon RMK 163
- 500 xc sp
Trail
- 120 Youth
- 340 Dump rider
- 550 LX
- SuperSport
- 600 IQ LX
- IQ Turbo LX
Touring
- Trail Touring DLX
- FS IQ Touring
- 600 IQ Touring
- FST IQ Touring
- IQ Cruiser
- WideTrak LX
- 340 Transport
[edit] 2007 models:
ATV:
- X2 500 EFI
- X2 500 EFI Deluxe
- X2 800 EFI
- X2 800 EFI Deluxe
- Hawkeye 4x2
- Hawkeye 4x4
- Outlaw 90
- Outlaw 500
- Outlaw 525
- Sawtooth Base
- Trail Boss 330
- Scrambler 500
- Phoenix 200
- Predator 50
- Predator 500
- Sportsman 90
- Sportsman 450
- Sportsman 500 EFI
- Sportsman 500 EFI Deluxe
- Sportsman 700 EFI
- Sportsman 800 EFI
- Sportsman 800 EFI Deluxe
- Sportsman 6x6
- Ranger 500
- Ranger 700 EFI
- Ranger 6x6
- Ranger RzR EFI
- IQ 600 HO
- IQ 600 HO CFI
- IQ FST
- IQ Dragon
- RMK Trail
- RMK 600 HO 144
- RMK 600 HO 155
- RMK Dragon
- SwitchBack 600 HO
- SwitchBack 600 HO CFI
- SwitchBack FST
- IQ LX 600 HO CFI
- IQ LX FST
- LX 340
- LX 550
- IQ Cruiser FST
- IQ Touring FS
- IQ Touring 600 HO CFI
- IQ Touring FST
- WideTrak LX
- Touring 340
- Touring Trail Deluxe
- XC SP 500
- Super Sport 550
- 120 Base
Popular Past snowmobiles:
- Indy 650
- Indy 600 XLT (Extra Light Triple)
- Indy lite
- Indy Storm
- Colt
- Star
- XC Models
- Vegas Base
- Vegas 8-Ball
- Vegas JackPot
- Kingpin Base
- Kingpin Tour
- Hammer Base
- Hammer S
- Ness Signature Series JackPot
[edit] 2006 models
All-Terrain Vehicles
- Sportsman models:
- 800 EFI
- 700 EFI
- 700 Twin
- 500 EFI
- 500 H.O.
- 450
- X2
- 6x6
- xc sp 500
- Hawkeye models
- 4x2
- 4x4
- Rec/Utility
- Sawtooth
- Magnum 330 4x4
- Trail Boss 330
- High Performance
- Predator 500
- Outlaw 525
- Outlaw 500
- Sport Collection
- Scrambler 500
- Trail Blazer 250
- Phoenix 200
- Limited Editions
- Sportsman 500 EFI Red Flame
- Sportsman 800 Browning Edition
- Sportsman 700 Browning Edition
- Sportsman 500 H.O. Browning Edition
- Sportsman 450 Browning Edition
- Predator 500 Cross Country
- Hawkeye Camo 300 4x4
- Youth
- Predator 90
- Sportsman 90
- Predator 50
Victory
- Vegas Jackpot
- Hammer
- Vegas
- Vegas 8-ball
- Kingpin
- Touring Cruiser
- Ness Signature Series
[edit] Racing
Polaris Racing is one of the big four factory racing teams on the World PowerSports 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 and Gústi (#10) won Pro Stock and 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 IQ 400, 600 or 700 Racer, depending on the class and the event.
[edit] References
- ^ Fundamentals - Snapshot. phx.corporate-ir.net. Retrieved on 2008-04-29.
[edit] External links
- Polaris Industries official site
- Robin engines web info on FHI
- Mammoth Designs—Polaris Ranger RZR Crew Cab Enclosures
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