It was hard not to be impressed when walking into one of the hangars at the Fort Worth Alliance Airport and the first thing staring you in the face was a Bell 407GXP helicopter. Then, just a few feet away was a Textron AirLand Scorpion, a tactical jet aircraft. Not replicas or toy-size mind you but full size and big as life.
On the other side of the room were an array of side-by-sides, ATVs, E-Z-GO carts and snowmobiles.
This was our first introduction to Textron, the new parent company of Arctic Cat. And in the next few hours we were given an exclusive first look as well as the first real detailed and substantive information about what Arctic Cat, long a mainstay in the snowmobiling and off-road market, will look like under the Textron name. Textron first announced its intent to buy Arctic Cat back in late January.
A lot of information was presented to the handful of dealers and other invited guests to the event. And not all of everyone’s questions were answered but that is probably to be expected as Textron tries to work out a myriad of details.
But here are some of the highlights of what we learned during our visit with Textron and Arctic Cat officials. Much of what we learned came from Kevin Holleran, president and CEO, Textron Specialized Vehicles, John Collins, vice president, consumer, Textron Specialized Vehicles, and Erik Nelson, vice president and general manager, snow & international, Textron Specialized Vehicles.
What’s In Store
First, Arctic Cat dirt vehicles will now be under the name of Textron, although these vehicles will still keep their familiar sub brand names. That means we’ll still see the Wildcat, Prowler, Alterra and Stampede names. You might remember that in March Textron rebranded its Bad Boy Off Road vehicles to Textron Off Road vehicles.
“We didn’t take lightly the decision to move Arctic Cat to Textron Off Road,” Collins said. But he referenced a company study that was recently done where 74 percent of competitive side-by-side and ATV owners said they would be more likely to consider purchasing products like Alterra, Prowler and Wildcat if they became a part of Textron Off Road.
“Our intention,” Collins said, “is to take Textron and invest in the sub brands.”
Second, Arctic Cat snowmobiles will still use the name of Arctic Cat. You can read more about that and how Nelson said Textron resources will help Cat become even more competitive on the snow on www.snowest.com.
Next, we were given a brief glimpse of Textron’s newest side-by-side, scheduled to be released this fall. While the name of the vehicle was not revealed to us yet, we were told it is a cross-over and to “think of the (Polaris) General,” according to Collins. Here are some details we do know. The Textron side-by-side will offer up 100 plus horsepower, have a “class-leading” suspension with King Shocks, offer an extended cab and “class-leading” storage.
