“Arctic Cat has also extended a co-branding agreement to build Yamaha snowmobiles selected in Arctic Cat`s Thief River Falls, Minn., a factory to Yamaha`s specifications… and will now include large-scale snowmobiles from the 2014 model year. These snowmobiles are built to Yamaha specifications with Yamaha 4-stroke engines. As part of the agreement announced last month, Yamaha will introduce five snowmobiles for the 2014 model year, built on Arctic Cat`s ProCross chassis in Thief River Falls, Minn. The models are powered by the four-stroke Three-cylinder Genesis Yamahas and use Yamahas clutches. The new units will receive their own unique colors and revive the company`s viper-moniker used so far to create five unique models: SR Viper and SR Viper RTX SE shorttrack, SR Viper LTX and SR Viper LTX SE and LongR Viptrack SR Viper XTX SE. To achieve its objectives, the development of new engines is underway at YMC Japan and the company has integrated employees in its research and development plant in Minocqua, En Wis. Yamaha insisted that the new “mutually beneficial” agreement is not a merger with Arctic Cat now or in the future, and that this moment is a turning point, with Yamaha reconnecting with the North American snowmobile market. On the same day as the Meeting of Yamaha Dealers in Minneapolis, Arctic Cat released – less than 10 miles west in Plymouth, Minn. – a statement on the delivery contract with Yamaha. While the rumor mill has long suggested an imminent snowmobile partnership between Yamaha Motor Corp. and Arctic Cat, it was still a dramatic moment when Yamaha announced a new delivery contract with Arctic Cat at Yamaha`s first joint dealer meeting between its American and Canadian snowmobile organization in Minneapolis. When introducing the agreement and its new models, Smallman-Tew acknowledged that Yamaha dealers have recently experienced a difficult period in the snowmobile market, when they predicted that the situation would be better from that date.
Brad Darling, vice president and general manager of Cat`s Snow Division, said of his own products: “The purchase agreement with Yamaha, combined with the engines we want to manufacture in our own home, will provide our consumers with the best engine options in terms of technology, reliability and power. At about the same time that Yamaha and Arctic Cat reached the agreement, Yamaha was paving the way for a brand new high-performance propulsion system. While Yamaha may have much deeper financial pockets than the Arctic Cat, or any other sled manufacturer in this matter, the company has a board of directors and has to make sound financial decisions, meaning that the blow for a new engine might not be just for snowmobiles. If you took Yamaha`s market share and combined it with Arctic Cat, you could be in second place in the current global market of 150,713 sled sales. Yamaha`s management probably wouldn`t be too upset, but if you could share the new engine with another powersport unit that could make such a tasty move. Today, Arctic Cat sent this unilateral press release announcing an extended agreement with the Yamaha Motor Company, in which there are some informative details, but also some important information that is not (yet) available.