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Anyone else get the feeling Textron is pulling the plug on snowmobiles?
Polaris sponsors Caleb Kesterke
- Thread starter darklightning8
- Start date
Not necessarily this has been standard operating procedure for the past few years
I know he didnt like the alpha suspension, maybe he sought them out.
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I bet he comes back. The Polaris won't handle the way he tortures machines.
But they are Polaris the might McDonald's the crap out of the situation and give him one for every day of the week
But they are Polaris the might McDonald's the crap out of the situation and give him one for every day of the week
He allready had an axys back in 2016, pretty sure he left them for reliability issues
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Yep. He wore that thing out in a hurry.
Whole different ballgame with factory support though.
Wear out a sled in 500 miles?
No problem, on to the next.
I can only imagine cat offered him like 40% off parts and accessories before Polaris counter offered with Full sponsorship, 3 sleds, free parts, test prototypes etc.
When asking about cat prototypes he just gets awkward silences......
All pure speculation of course......... ???
Between hearing Caleb and Gabrielle going to polaris and not hearing a peep from Rob K and Dave M this close to Haydays seems weird. Love my Alpha turbo, but I think somthing is going down.
R
It’s been Polaris’ style to snatch up the best riders, they’ve been doing it for years!
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Z
Lots of speculation at this point, and truth be told, I think that’s all it is.. textron is clearly changing how the business has been handled. They might be cleaning house, but that doesn’t mean doors are closing. Also, they’ve never been good about having quality sponsored riders. Look how many they’ve lost over the years..
No need to worry about it until that time comes. As long as you have dealer that keeps treating you well, and a cat sled that performs well, keep ripping! No need to speculate on something we won’t know until it happens. We just need to enjoy our machines. Just my .02 cents.
Rob posted about this on instagram congratulating both of them. So far no word from Rob or Dave leaving
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Guess nobody knows that he wore his cat out too. He had to change out his tunnel countless times because he bent the running boards. Arctic cat gave him a new tunnel and payed his dealership to fix it. There was a reason he had to sell his BMFAB boards. Cat wanted him to ride on stock boards but they couldn't handle his riding style so they gave him new tunnels as needed. Whether this is true or not I have no idea never met the guy but spoke to a buddy of hisYep. He wore that thing out in a hurry.
Whole different ballgame with factory support though.
Wear out a sled in 500 miles?
No problem, on to the next.
I can only imagine cat offered him like 40% off parts and accessories before Polaris counter offered with Full sponsorship, 3 sleds, free parts, test prototypes etc.
When asking about cat prototypes he just gets awkward silences......
All pure speculation of course.........
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F
Polaris does a great job buying top talent and then leveraging them to sell products. If it was a Polaris in the aforementioned scenario and Caleb was bending running boards, Polaris would build a set of Kesterke edition running boards and market them in a way that makes consumers look past the stock subpar boards and spend the money (again) to upgrade, because that’s what a good aggressive rider does!
I doubt cat is going anywhere. It would seem like Textron is adjusting to this industry and playing things conservatively, which makes sense because at the end of the day investors expect to make money, and throwing money at an already downward trending brand in a competitive industry is rarely tolerated. I’m sure a reboot and restructuring was Textron’s original plan for cat, but acting too fast without a guaranteed quick (think quarterly) return on investment scares off investors and top employees.
Riding the machines side x side, there’s not a major difference between the top seller and the bottom. Polaris has found the recipe to sell sleds despite the fact that guys like Caleb can ride a somewhat stock cat as good or better than the top sponsored full mod, signature series, matching socks and onesie Polaris equivalent. Even ski doo puts out a nice ride but the fashion trends and popular colors must appear differently in Quebec than they do in the rest of the civilized world because wtf!?
All in all, congrats to Caleb! I’m sure it was a business decision that benefited him financially and he deserves it for the talent he has and the work he puts in.
As my friend said earlier today, "step #1 to getting your first free Polaris, buy an Arctic Cat."
You have to spend money to make money. Really!!! disappointed cat never signed Caleb on. Caleb would have made Arctic Cat money. The thought or image people get when they see him ride is what inspires people to want to go out west, buy a new machine and get on the snow and push themselves to the next level.
Think about the majority of people buying these new mountain sled. They are not 70 years old buying them because they can afford them. The majority of outback mountain riders I see want to be able to ride like Caleb or inspire to and at the least would love to ride with him to see him ride in person and possibly learn and improve their own riding. Burandt has proven that over and over.
Think about the majority of people buying these new mountain sled. They are not 70 years old buying them because they can afford them. The majority of outback mountain riders I see want to be able to ride like Caleb or inspire to and at the least would love to ride with him to see him ride in person and possibly learn and improve their own riding. Burandt has proven that over and over.
Polaris might not have the best sled, but what they do have is a marketing team that knows what it's doing. They seem to be the only brand that realizes the power of social media, scooping up everyone that is trending. Meanwhile cat hasn't had any marketing worth a crap in years. I never even heard of Rob or Dave before they became cats go to guys. They don't seem to have what it takes to really stand out and bring the needed attention to cat sleds. Congrats to Caleb, cat definitely missed a big opportunity here.
You guys sound like a bunch of high school girls, who cares what ONE person rides. These celebrity riders have never influenced me to buy a sled , none of your hero riders will ever be brand loyal they will take any deal that works for them...its all business.
They will influence a bunch. Marketing. Something cat knows nothing about.
I don’t think it’s about the person so to speak as it is about the bigger picture with Arctic Cat’s market department or lack thereof. When your a fan of the brand you want them to be successful, and many thought that with Textron they would be able to quickly take the marketing side into modern times. The website continues to greatly lack, their social media presence is weak at best, and they continue to miss out on top talent to be brand ambassadors. Sadly the strategy they had and those leading it didn’t work, and they haven’t really moved forward since the purchase.
Personally I may not buy a sled just because this person is riding it, but from a company perspective you want these brand ambassadors, and Caleb is going to be a great one for Polaris hopefully bringing in younger riders to help this sport. I look at this as a missed opportunity for Cat, but for it to have been successful for Cat there would have needed to be a strategy, and to this point there has been nothing from their marketing team that would lead me to believe they would have had a plan to make this a successful endeavor.
Personally I may not buy a sled just because this person is riding it, but from a company perspective you want these brand ambassadors, and Caleb is going to be a great one for Polaris hopefully bringing in younger riders to help this sport. I look at this as a missed opportunity for Cat, but for it to have been successful for Cat there would have needed to be a strategy, and to this point there has been nothing from their marketing team that would lead me to believe they would have had a plan to make this a successful endeavor.
My point exactly!!!!!!
Didn't Brett Turcotte switch to Polaris too. . . ?
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