There’s been no “release” info given for 2026 models that I’ve seen.

Honestly I think it’s like this.. they bought it cheaper, didn’t do much with it, it’s just skating by. Now it’s for sale. Before they go lose more money, they will just back burner the company, but keep it going behind the scenes for the obligatory stuff by law. (7 years parts etc). If it sells great, if not it’s gone in the back storage room for who knows how long..

Either way while I’m not a Cat guy, I am a snowmobiler. I really hate to lose another manufacturer after seeing Yamaha quit just recently..

 

There is no law that requires a powersports company to provide parts for any length of time. It’s an urban myth that’s been disproven numerous times. Do a search and you’ll even find posts about it on this forum.

 

No, i'm not a Cat guy either, but still sad to lose another manufacturer as you said @DooDown87.
It's not gonna get the price for new BRP sleds down when it's less competition..

 

Arctic cat has been sold for months not too many people know it the deal was done at the hay days

 

So they are running stuff in stealth mode then your saying? Then suddenly they will surprise the world?

 

Taiga has new owners, why not Arctic Cat?

 

Boeing bought them. '26 models are going to blow the doors off the competition.

 

I think they still have a chance on the dirt side. Maybe they will be a name only, like rebranded CF Motor or Baja or whatever (I don't follow the dirt side). But the dirt side definitely has a huge huge potential upside whereas the sled side... Cat sleds are a distant 3rd place and the market is only a fraction of what the dirt market is. It would take way too much investment to make Cat sleds competitive again.

 

When I’m out riding atv/utv trails I see very few Cat machines compared to other brands. I think Cat in general has been a dying brand for some time. This is the end of the line for them. And there’s just not enough profit it power sports these days for someone to take over and revive them.

 

To bad about Cat, would like to see them pull through but reality sometimes bites. Back in the 70's-80's we were saying goodbye to a sled manufacturer once a week it seemed like, now we basically have 2. Maybe something good will yet come of this, CFMOTO could by them and the first sled produced could be named the Siamese Cat.

 

An interesting part of the letter says an ongoing supply of “aftermarket parts” does that mean oem parts are not available?

 

I actually really want to buy one of those 600 catalysts eventually. They look sick. But it’s hard to justify that kind of buy while their this kind of uncertainty with the brand

 

And yet they "remain open for business", but decide to not build any 2026 models...?

Funny new ownership, I must say.

Exactly. That guy is making things up.

Did you sign an NDA or can you tell us more? : )

It‘s total BS. He’s making things up.

I actually really want to buy one of those 600 catalysts eventually. They look sick. But it’s hard to justify that kind of buy while their this kind of uncertainty with the brand

That‘s where I’d be. Who’d buy a brand new Cat while they are going out of business. You won’t be able to get parts for it. Guys are alr posting about all the parts no longer available for other Cat models. Unless they have a blow out sale for 50-75% off, I’d not take a chance.

 

Cat will have a new owner sooner than later. It is not going away on the sled side anyhow. I agree, the offroad Cat brand has zero value.

Someone like CF Moto or Argo will buy the factory, continue to produce Arctic Cat branded snowmobiles but will build off road vehicles under a new name.

My gut tells me that Argo buys it and they basically get "the band back together" with all of the ex-Cat execs that left.

 

Cat will have a new owner sooner than later. It is not going away on the sled side anyhow. I agree, the offroad Cat brand has zero value.

Someone like CF Moto or Argo will buy the factory, continue to produce Arctic Cat branded snowmobiles but will build off road vehicles under a new name.

My gut tells me that Argo buys it and they basically get "the band back together" with all of the ex-Cat execs that left.

That's been the big rumor for awhile now, yet nothing seems to have happened.

You'd think if Textron had something solid in the works they wouldn't have published that letter. That letter does nothing but continue to lower the value of the Cat name.

 

Read an article that was written today from snow goer magazine. There was a 26 Cat at a photo shoot very recently. They have recently signed on some new big name dealers. Said a big purchase like this takes time. Word will come by May or sooner. The Cat is not dead.

 

I did hear of some previous Yamaha dealers in WI and UP picking up Cat, so I guess that must mean something.

 

OPINION: Amid Signs Of Optimism, Don't Write Off Arctic Cat | SnowGoer

Despite the gloom, we're convinced that Arctic Cat and its snowmobiles do have a future. Look close and you'll see real signs of life.

snowgoer.com

 

^^^ I hope they're right but it seems we've heard this same song before.

 

Sad, but it’s over.

 

It is a bad sign.

It is a sad sign.

Sorry Arctic Cat and everyone else but Rotax made the 600, 900, 1200 ACE. The 900 ACE Turbo. The 900 ACE Turbo 180 and the 600R. I don't know much about the 650's.

Ski Doo has/had the rMotion and now the rMotion X and even RX, what are now considered the best trail rear ends in the business.

It is just too bad that Ski Doo has been so good as I know that I extol the virtues of the machines because they just work so right and when I want to have fun, the Ski Doo's are just fun. Fun and reliable.

It is the terrible reality of the world that we have been living in. Just like two stroke motorcycles and outboard motors in the US where the market had become so small for them that all the manufacturers of two stroke outboard engines had to cease operations, forever. If one thinks that BRP is going to bring back some version of a miracle two stroke outboard motor that is going to obsolete either Mercury or Yamaha, or even Suzuki or Honda, is dreaming any more than one could think that Yamaha will someday come back with a snowmobile that will do what the Rev did for snowmobiling. That literal or proverbial ship has sailed. Pun intended. Just imagine how small of a number of snowmobiles that Arctic Cat has been selling every year for the past 30 or 40 years. There is no technology for snowmobiles, no amazing design, that is going to get Arctic Cat to come back and make snowmobiles any more than there is a hope of Yamaha coming back and doing it. The marketfor snowmobiles is already too miniscule as it is. Nothing is going to ever be able to change that.

There was a good article in Motocross Action where one of the writers had mentioned that neither Honda nor Kawasaki or Suzuki is going to ever bring back a two stroke off road/dirtbike because no one was or would be buying them. Just like Yamaha getting out of snowmobiles and now with Arctic Cat ceasing production for the foreseeable future. Sadly, between the weather and conditions needed for people to be able to ride and then to want to buy an Arctic Cat snowmobile, to the fact that the machines and the sport/pastime/hobby, in general, is very expensive when the season is, unfortunately in many areas of the country that Arctic Cat used to rely on for sales of its fun, luxury and non-essential machines, quite short.

Here on DooTalk, we know how much the machines we want are and the guys that have either a quiver of machines or those that get or used to get a new machine every year because they are just flush with cash from doing so good in life, well, just like with Harley Davidson, that cohort of customers is now very few and very far between, much like they were for the customers for the V6 E-TEC outboard motors and Yamaha's snowmobiles all the guys that used to love Kawasaki, Honda and Suzuki two stroke dirtbikes/off road/Mx machines.

It is no different than all the small ski areas that used to be around where I grew up, all the low snow years of the 70's and 80's had forced them all to close and other than a few winters where the snow would not melt in a matter of days or maybe weeks, like the past month of February we just had where conditions were perfect and the snow fell, the cold came, the cold stayed and the pattern repeated for a good three weeks and all of a sudden it seemed that a perfect winter was back for good, until this past week where it got into the 40's and 50's all week and where us people in MA now need to go further up into NH to be able to ride. Still, Arctic Cat, much like Yamaha and their snowmobile division and BRP with its entire outboard motor line, and the way Harley Davidson is going with its customers aging out and with no new riders going down to their dealer to get one of their new motorcycles and it won't be long before they go the way of Arctic Cat.

Have you ever seen the US sales graphs for Harley Davidson? It is not pretty and the sales line on a chart is the very definition of downhill. No one is buying their bikes, well, at least for the past five to ten years anyway. The bikes don't change or the don't change all that much and when they do, they just keep on getting more and more expensive. Never mind that the younger and following generations want nothing to do with the image of what a huge, loud Harley Davidson brings along with it. It comes as no surprise that young people are not interested in riding Harley Davidson motorcycles much like no one has been interested in Arctic Cat snowmobiles, no matter what they have been designing and producing for the winter riding public, no one is buying what they are selling outside of their very loyal fan base. The sales plot must look just like Harley Davidsons and even Yamahas from when they each peaked, until now as they have both decided to throw in the towel on snowmobiles, just "No mas".

Well before I had ever heard of Dootalk back in 2005, Arctic Cat was always considered the least reliable of the big four brands and it is why they'd be seen the least on the trails and on any given day. They were, or are, the Dodge of motor vehicles, just. Not. Reliable. It is why it is hard to believe that Nissan is having a harder time with its company though Stellantis, or Dodge is not doing all that much better as of late as no one likes unreliable things. Listen up Ford. One can type on the internet, like me, or scream it in the streets that Arctic Cat snowmobiles are great and they are reliable but there are not many that are going to listen and put their hard earned money on a Dodge when they can get an old Honda or Toyota that will be more reliable 10 years on compared to any 1-5 year old Dodge/Chrysler(or any American car for that matter). To me, Ski Doo has been both the Honda/Toyota and also the Corvette/Porsche of snowmobiles, reliable and dependable but also perform exceptionally well for the money. I know most of you would agree or you'd not be on Dootalk.

The expensive (green) winter toys, made for mostly guys that like to ride around in circles through the freezing cold forests, that have the extra money to either fuel up a full sized four door pickup truck, then drive hundreds of miles north, to spend more to stay somewhere or for those who are extra flush, have second homes in a snowmobile zone and can then spend more on food for however many days or riding, are now both few and far between. I've probably mentioned this at least once but us lovers of the sport are aging and, gulp, even aging out of all the things we have loved, and nowhere near enough are coming into the sport to keep it alive. It is quite amazing that snowmobiling exists at all as at least for trail riders like me, we have to rely on out fellow citizens, the landowners, that allow us to ride on their land, and then for these huge diesel burning machines that need to run to groom the trails smooth so that I can ride, well, that I get to ride at all on the trails is quite a feat.

People are getting old. They are aging out of the sport. Not enough younger people are coming into the sport. Couple it with so many seasons with either very low or even no snow, well, there is just no way either Yamaha or Arctic Cat could keep making(expensive) things that no one is buying. See Saab. See Pontiac. See KTM(hanging on). See Evinrude. See Yamaha(snowmobiles). See all the companes that used to make stuff. See all the companies that used to make some great stuff as there had been many. The simple problem with all of them is when sales are not there, they are just not there and that is the saddest bottom line there is.

I'm one that is going to keep my SkiDoo until I can no longer ride and that's that.

 

It is a bad sign.

It is a sad sign.

It is the terrible reality of the world that we have been living in. Just like two stroke motorcycles and outboard motors in the US where the market had become so small for them that all the manufacturers of two stroke outboard engines had to cease operations, forever. If one thinks that BRP is going to bring back some version of a miracle two stroke outboard motor that is going to obsolete either Mercury or Yamaha, or even Suzuki or Honda, is dreaming any more than one could think that Yamaha will someday come back with a snowmobile that will do what the Rev did for snowmobiling. That literal or proverbial ship has sailed. Pun intended. Just imagine how small of a number of snowmobiles that Arctic Cat has been selling every year for the past 30 or 40 years. There is no technology for snowmobiles, no amazing design, that is going to get Arctic Cat to come back and make snowmobiles any more than there is a hope of Yamaha coming back and doing it. The marketfor snowmobiles is already too miniscule as it is. Nothing is going to ever be able to change that.

There was a good article in Motocross Action where one of the writers had mentioned that neither Honda nor Kawasaki or Suzuki is going to ever bring back a two stroke off road/dirtbike because no one was or would be buying them. Just like Yamaha getting out of snowmobiles and now with Arctic Cat ceasing production for the foreseeable future. Sadly, between the weather and conditions needed for people to be able to ride and then to want to buy an Arctic Cat snowmobile, to the fact that the machines and the sport/pastime/hobby, in general, is very expensive when the season is, unfortunately in many areas of the country that Arctic Cat used to rely on for sales of its fun, luxury and non-essential machines, quite short.

Here on DooTalk, we know how much the machines we want are and the guys that have either a quiver of machines or those that get or used to get a new machine every year because they are just flush with cash from doing so good in life, well, just like with Harley Davidson, that cohort of customers is now very few and very far between, much like they were for the customers for the V6 E-TEC outboard motors and Yamaha's snowmobiles all the guys that used to love Kawasaki, Honda and Suzuki two stroke dirtbikes/off road/Mx machines.

It is no different than all the small ski areas that used to be around, all the low snow years of the 70's and 80's had forced them all to close and other than a few winters where the snow would not melt in a matter of days or maybe weeks, like the past month of February we just had where conditions were perfect and the snow fell, the cold came, the cold stayed and the pattern repeated for a good three weeks and all of a sudden it seemed that a perfect winter was back for good, until this past week where it got into the 40's and 50's all week and where us people in MA now need to go further up into NH to be able to ride. Still, Arctic Cat, much like Yamaha and their snowmobile division and BRP with its entire outboard motor line, and the way Harley Davidson is going with its customers aging out and with no new riders going down to their dealer to get one of their new motorcycles and it won't be long before they go the way of Arctic Cat.

Have you ever seen the US sales graphs for Harley Davidson? It is not pretty and the sales line on a chart is the very definition of downhill. No one is buying their bikes, well, at least for the past five to ten years anyway. The bikes don't change or the don't change all that much and when they do, they just keep on getting more and more expensive. Never mind that the younger and following generations want nothing to do with the image of what a huge, loud Harley Davidson brings along with it. It comes as no surprise that young people are not interested in riding Harley Davidson motorcycles much like no one has been interested in Arctic Cat snowmobiles, no matter what they have been designing and producing for the winter riding public, no one is buying what they are selling outside of their very loyal fan base. The sales plot must look just like Harley Davidsons and even Yamahas from when they each peaked, until now as they have both decided to throw in the towel on snowmobiles, just "No mas".

Well before I had ever heard of Dootalk back in 2005, Arctic Cat was always considered the least reliable of the big four brands and it is why they'd be seen the least on the trails and on any given day. They were, or are, the Dodge of motor vehicles, just. Not. Reliable. It is why it is hard to believe that Nissan is having a harder time with its company though Stellantis, or Dodge is not doing all that much better as of late as no one likes unreliable things. Listen up Ford. One can type on the internet, like me, or scream it in the streets that Arctic Cat snowmobiles are great and they are reliable but there are not many that are going to listen and put their hard earned money on a Dodge when they can get an old Honda or Toyota that will be more reliable 10 years on compared to any 1-5 year old Dodge/Chrysler(or any American car for that matter). To me, Ski Doo has been both the Honda/Toyota and also the Corvette/Porsche of snowmobiles, reliable and dependable but also perform exceptionally well for the money. I know most of you would agree or you'd not be on Dootalk.

The expensive (green) winter toys, made for mostly guys that like to ride around in circles through the freezing cold forests, that have the extra money to either fuel up a full sized four door pickup truck, then drive hundreds of miles north, to spend more to stay somewhere or for those who are extra flush, have second homes in a snowmobile zone and can then spend more on food for however many days or riding, are now both few and far between and nowhere near enough are coming into the sport to keep it alive. Couple it with so many seasons with either very low or even no snow, well, there is just no way either Yamaha or Arctic Cat could keep making(expensive) things that no one is buying.

Kawasaki Announces the Return of a Two-Stroke Dirt Bike

At the third round of the 2025 AMA Supercross season, Kawasaki announced the return of a two-stroke dirt bike.

www.cycleworld.com

 

^^^ Can I borrow that crystal ball?

 

My dealer told me a couple days ago it sounds like Cat may be doing a limited production run of 2026 sleds, possibly spring orders only but didn't know anything on the sale/future of Cat.

 

Cat will have a new owner sooner than later. It is not going away on the sled side anyhow. I agree, the offroad Cat brand has zero value.

Someone like CF Moto or Argo will buy the factory, continue to produce Arctic Cat branded snowmobiles but will build off road vehicles under a new name.

My gut tells me that Argo buys it and they basically get "the band back together" with all of the ex-Cat execs that left.

Not going to happen. Argo is a small company and it would be an incredibly dumb move to get into the snowmobile industry which is dying.

Pats had it in the works to acquire Cat prior to any of the announcements of their “issues”

Yep, it was already in the works before the Textron announcements in December. The only reason they did a press release about adding a dealer was to try and prop up the stock price.

This would be a disaster on so many levels. Argo does not have near deep enough pockets to drag Cat out of the hole they are in and even if the sled market was red hot. 10% or likely even less market share in a shrinking market would not even come close to doing anything but burning cash at a spectacular rate.

Which ex-Cat execs would they bring back? The guys responsible for running the company into the ground prior to Textron buying it?

Exactly! I was going to write the same thing. They going to bring back the same idiots who ran it into the ground in ‘17? What are they going to do different this time, double down on “wins on Sunday, sells on Monday”? That moronic philosophy is was put them out of business in ‘81 and caused them to sell to Textron in ‘17. Maybe 3rd time‘s the charm? 😆🤣

^^^ I hope they're right but it seems we've heard this same song before.

Exactly! They are done.

There was a good article in Motocross Action where one of the writers had mentioned that neither Honda nor Kawasaki or Suzuki is going to ever bring back a two stroke off road/dirtbike because no one was or would be buying them. Just like Yamaha getting out of snowmobiles and now with Arctic Cat ceasing production for the foreseeable future. Sadly, between the weather and conditions needed for people to be able to ride and then to want to buy an Arctic Cat snowmobile, to the fact that the machines and the sport/pastime/hobby, in general, is very expensive when the season is, unfortunately in many areas of the country that Arctic Cat used to rely on for sales of its fun, luxury and non-essential machines, quite short.

Ummm…. Kawasaki just announced last week they were going to release a new 2-stroke.

 

This year I have seen a lot of new Yamaha sleds on the trail. After Yamaha announced they were not producing sleds after 2025 , everyone got upset and nostalgic. I think it would be great Idea for Yamaha to buy Arctic Cat and make their own chassis. I know after the issues I have had with my 2024 Ski Doo 850 bogging and Ski Doo burying their head in the sad on this issue, I would buy a 2026 Sidewinder.

 

Didn't Ski Doo just release a bulletin and fix for the bogging issue?

 

Maybe but I’m not sure this is the issue and is at the owners expense?

 

Buried their heads in the sand??? It sure looks like they have a cause and effect, and a potential path forward to fix it. Of course it's not at the owners expense.

 

Talking to my Cat dealer last week Textron has Huge reduction in part prices available to dealers , whatever that means for future availability

 

Yep. Textron is blowing out old stock parts on the cheap. Like up to 90% off old stock. My local dealer told me he bought 10 brand new F- series clutches for $50 each. This could also mean that any new owner doesn’t want to buy old obsolete parts.

Someone like Country Cat will just buy everything if they haven’t already for pennies on the dollar just to get it out of the warehouse and off Textrons books.

 

Many good Opinions here, it’ll sure be interesting to see how it all plays out throughout the industry. regarding the fade from two to four stroke, and at the risk of getting political, i feel the EPA has driven that change with stringent emission regulations…… just my two cents.

 

Never been a fan on Artic Cat but don't want them to go out of business. It would be very hard times for the people of Thief River Falls and surrounding area if Artic Cat would disappear.

 

An additional unfortunate consequence of this notification from Arctic Cat applies to people with small children: the apparent fact that the entire industry will lose access to new 200cc snowmobiles (regardless of branding).

 

It's over, moving on