Arctic Cat, which was acquired last month by Textron Inc., will soon see its brand name changed to "Textron Off Road" in regards to side-by-sides and ATVs, per an announcement Textron made earlier this week at a select gathering of employees and dealer in Fort Worth, Texas.
Company officials from Textron Specialized Vehicles, Inc., also took the opportunity to announce to their dealer network the company's plan for growth as it incorporate Arctic Cat into the grander scheme, including its future powersports brand portfolio. President and CEO Kevin Holleran welcome Arctic Cat to the greater Textron family, which includes E-Z-GO golf cars, Textron Off Road side-by-sides, Cessna and Beechcraft fixed-wing aircraft, Bell helicopters, Greenlee professional tools and Kautex automotive fuel systems, among others.
“Everything Textron Specialized Vehicles makes is created by tapping the same world-class engineering expertise, manufacturing know-how and Fortune 500 resources that power these brands,” he said, pointing out as an example that TSV Vice President, Engineering Chris Spencer spent more than two decades at Bell Helicopter as a lead engineer on military programs such as the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey.
Moving forward, the company will transition all side-by-sides and ATV’s to become a part of the Textron Off Road brand, said John Collins, TSV vice president, consumer. The iconic Arctic Cat brand, built on decades of performance and leadership in snowmobiles, will remain in use on the company’s innovative, high-performance snowmobile product lines. The decision to rebrand side-by-sides and ATVs under the Textron Off Road name was not taken lightly, Collins said, and was the result of consultation and research with consumers and dealers that showed that the Textron Off Road brand offered the best opportunity for future growth across all regions, particularly outside of the snow belt.
For more information, go to ArcticCat.com.