Polaris is one of the world’s leading names in snowmobiles, off-roaders, ATVs and other recreational vehicles.
During the coronavirus pandemic sales have boomed despite supply chain and logistics trouble.
The company also formed a partnership with the all-electric Zero Motorcycles brand that will allow Polaris to use Zero technology on Polaris off-roaders. Analysts say the deal stands to lower the cost of developing electric vehicles – which are expensive – while widening Polaris’s customer base, and attracting new groups of investors passionate about EVs and their market potential.
Many industry experts in the automotive world still think the all-electric future auto executives sometimes talk about is still several years out. Perhaps this could be even more true for the recreational vehicle segments Polaris plays in.
The issues around range and charging time that keep some buyers from purchasing electric cars, trucks, and SUVs, might be even more on the minds of those who drive off-roaders into remote areas where power outlets are tough to find.
But electric snowmobiles and off-roaders are attractive to customers. One reason: they are quiet. An electric snowmobile or side-by-side is less likely to spook livestock on a farm or wildlife in a forest.
That is something many of Polaris’s customers say they could have a use for.
If that proves true, electric technology might be another way for Polaris to hold on to some of the success it has seen in recent years.
