Polaris is one of the largest and most popular ATV makers in America. Not only do they produce many recreational ATVs but also a lot of the military's ATVs. Today they are aggressively investing in making electric ATVs, but why? Riding one of Polaris's high-performing ATVs in the grand outdoors is one of the most fun things you can do outdoors. But soon those loud ATVs may fall mostly silent as they become electric.
On one hand, that would mean not hearing the awesome power of your engine, but on the other hand, there may be fewer angry campers woken up early by the roar of the ATVs. These are the reasons why Polaris is leading the shift in ATVs into all-electric.
10 History Of Polaris
Polaris was founded in 1954 by Edgar Hetteen, Allen Hetteen and David Johnson and its first product was a snowmobile. Edgar was a school dropout who has since been described as the father of the snowmobile.
They demonstrated their new snowmobile by trekking them 1,200 miles across the Alaskan wilderness, while hauling a lot of gear, in 1960. These early models were able to reach 20 mph. This sparked interest and sales took off.
9 Switch From Snowmobiles
While Polaris started as a snowmobile company, snowmobiles today are only a small part of their core business. In 2020, they sold around 125,000 snowmobiles (enough to earn them the second spot in snowmobile share in North America).
But now it is off-road vehicles that are the company's bread and butter, they make up 50-60% of their top line. They have about a 40% share in the off-road market in North America, selling more than 1.2 million of them in 2020.
8 Polaris Today
Today, Polaris basically just makes big, expensive joys for grown-ups. It makes a wide variety of off-roaders, snowmobiles, road motorcycles, and boats. Today they have acquired many other brands and have around 30 different brands.
They have a network of around 2,300 independent dealers in North America and 1,400 international independent dealers through some 30 different subsidiaries.
7 Polaris Is Making Electric Versions
Currently, Polaris is enjoying strong growth and high sales, but even so, it foresees an uncertain future ahead. So it is investing in electric motorcycles and off-roaders. Some industry analysts hail the move.
They say this move could increase profit margins, increase the customer base and lure more investors to Polaris.
6 Staying Ahead Of The Curve
There are plenty of competitors for Polaris, Honda perhaps being the prime example. To stay ahead of the game, they spent an impressive $300 million in 2020 on R&D. This is very important as 90% of Polaris's sales in 2020 were from products they had only innovated in the last 3 years.
Additionally, the demand for electric ATVs now exists. It's important for Polaris to be the first to fill that expanding demand before someone else does.
5 Buoyed By Covid19
It seems that more Americans have wanted to be active outside in the wake of the pandemic, so much so that domestic sales were up 25% in North America in 2020.
In the midst of the pandemic, off-roading has proven to be a safe and fun social distancing activity that families can enjoy.
4 Partnership With Zero Motorcycles
In 2020, they signed a partnership with the electric motorcycle company Zero Motorcycles. This will allow Polaris to take advantage of Zero's electric technology and apply it to its own line-up.
Developing new technology and innovations is expensive. This partnership will allow them to share the costs of electrification.
3 Ambitious Electrification Plans
Polaris is very serious about electrifying its products. It has announced its intention to offer an electric version of all of its vehicles by 2025 - just 4 years from now.
The first of these are expected to roll off the assembly line onto the dirt tracks later this year in 2021.
2 Electric Technology Isn't Quite There Yet
One limiting factor is even though electric technology is developing at breakneck speed, it still isn't quite there to match the performance and durability of traditional combustion engines. At the moment they have an electric ATV on the market. And by Polaris's own admission it isn't all that good, and yet they manage to sell a surprising amount of them.
Investing in electrification is certainly a risk, but it's one that has paid off handsomely elsewhere - look at how Tesla is not worth around 3x more than the next most valuable car company.
1 Polaris's Demographic
It's always the younger people who lead the shift to new technologies. While Harley-Davidson's demographic is mostly older, Polaris's is mostly younger. It is these millennials who are more concerned about the environment as well as more willing to try something new.
Not only that, but sales to that demographic are growing quickly. At the moment, electric sales are around 2% of total sales, but could be 10% by 2030 - perhaps even more if the technology continues to substantially develop and improve.
In summary, the ATVs seem to be becoming swept up in the wider electrification revolution sweeping the auto industry. It seems inevitable.