Since that time Polaris has continued to develop their in-house engine production capacity, now designing and manufacturing all of their own power plants, while maintaining the partnership with Subaru.
Both the Victory and Indian motorcycle brands are American made with complete powertrains and vehicle assembly located in Osceola, Wisconsin, and Spirit Lake, Iowa, respectively.
This first machine used a grain silo conveyor belt as a track, a Briggs and Stratton motor, and an old Chevy bumper for skis.
1 sled was soon sold to Roseau lumberyard owner "Silver Pete" H.F. Peterson for $465 in order to meet company payroll.
[6] However, the employees continued to focus on building snowmobiles and soon a second model was created, with Allan Hetteen leading the way; it was called the Polaris Sno Traveler.
As Polaris snowmobiles gained sales traction, Edgar Hetteen became an advocate of the new product line.
[6] In order to promote the new snowmobile and prove its reliability and usefulness, in 1960 Edgar led a three-snowmobile, 1,200-mile trek across the Alaskan wilderness, starting from Bethel, Alaska.
The company name later changed to Arctic Enterprises; in the mid-1980s it filed for bankruptcy amid declining industry snowmobile sales with a recession and overproduction in a poor winter which continued the demise of many manufacturers.
Polaris began developing a smaller consumer-sized, front-engine snowmobile to compete with the Ski-Doo in the early 1960s.
[10][11] In the early 1980s, Polaris started creating an Indy style snowmobile with IFS and a wider stance.
In 1985, Polaris introduced the Scrambler ATC[12] and Trail Boss, which are considered to be the first American-made production all-terrain vehicles (ATV).
[citation needed] In October 2011, Polaris announced an investment in Brammo, Inc., an electric vehicle company based in Ashland, Oregon, United States.
As one publication put it, "This latest move likely signals the addition of clean and quiet drivetrains to ATVs and motorcycles under the global giant's brand umbrella – snowmobiles may have to wait on battery breakthroughs before they become commercially feasible.
Production of electric motorcycles was slated to commence at Polaris' factory in Spirit Lake, Iowa during the second half of 2015.
For 2014, Polaris will expand the Indy name and provide model variants for nearly all categories (the one exception being the "Mountain" class).
[citation needed] On April 11, 2013, Polaris announced that it acquired Aixam-Mega, a French quadricycle manufacturer.
The plant will support several core processes including, vehicle assembly, chassis and body painting, welding, fabrication and injection molding.
[21] On March 7, 2016, Polaris acquired Taylor-Dunn, a manufacturer of industrial vehicles based in Anaheim, CA.
[22] On January 9, 2017, Polaris Chairman and CEO Scott Wine announced they would be shutting down Victory Motorcycles.
[23] In April 2018, Polaris Industries agreed to pay a record $27.25 million civil penalty for failing to report defective off-road vehicles.
[30] In November 2016, the U.S. Marine Corps signed a $6.5 million contract with Polaris to deliver 145 MRZR-D ATVs.
The Marines bought the unarmored ATVs because they can fit inside an MV-22 Osprey, enabling them to be deployed from long distances, to provide logistics support to ground combat units, assisting them to travel and transport supplies quicker and easier than previously on foot.