I'm not a big Textron fanboy or drinking the Kool-aid as you would like to assume I am, I'm engaging in devils advocate and looking at the reality of Arctic cat as a business and where it would be right now (Bankrupt during Covid and sold to Polaris and Bombardier in pieces, with most of the staff going wherever they could find a job) Arctic Cat was struggling financially before Textron bought them, or they wouldn't have been for sale. Arctic Cat had $10mil in the bank and roughly $75ml in debt when Textron bought them, math states that if Textron didn't buy them they would not have survived till Covid let alone through Covid.
Cite me a source for the firing of engineers please? I see lots of retirement announcements, whether they were forced or not is tough to say without a source.
Everyone keeps bringing up Polaris in the 1980s... that was 44 years ago... at the start of an economic crash the world over. Cool story, 44 years ago is 44 years ago, lots of things have changed, I'm sure most/all of the Textron board of directors has changed since the 1980s.
Skidoo profit is down in the last year, Skidoo sales are down. Skidoo is also thinning it's combinations, so is Polaris, sure they still have sales, but they are taking hits like everyone else, they are making changes and adjustments just like everyone else we just might not see them as openly on the surface.
Textron didn't divorce Suzuki, Arctic cat did... in 2010/2011....7 years before Textron was looking at buying cat, Textron happened to buy in at the end of the Suzuki supply agreement that was negotiated over 5 years prior, Arctic cat had already developed the C-tec engine to replace the Suzuki BEFORE Textron bought them. Arctic Cat began sinking their own ship before Textron got involved, I followed the financial numbers pretty regularly during those years.
Yes I agree fan cooled machines hold value, Yes cat should start making more of them, yes their utility segment is also currently suffering and has been for many years, yes the bearcat/norseman line would do good to have a bigger bore fanner than a 400, maybe the catalyst 600 engine will find it's way into a new utility chassis in a year or 2.
What are you using IFS as an acronym for? IFS = Independent front suspension, and has meant that as long as I've ever known. I'm not sure why you are talking about old IFS machines, sure they hold value, you can't get parts for most of them anymore, any brands. Most of the value in them currently is as salvage or for retro riders/kids machines. I'm not sure why 30+ year old IFS machines have become the topic of conversation.
Lots of folks stopped getting the old machines for their kids to learn on because they learn all the wrong habits on the older machines vs newer, with the rider forward/standup chassis direction of the skidoo rev chassis and the 05+ M series chassis the learning curve on the old machines to a newer machine is counterintuitive.
Again I'm not a Textron Fan-Boy, I've been a cat fan since the first time I got on a sled (old 96 panther in 2004, bearcat in 2004 also) but I'm not understanding how spreading a John Deere rumor that has been circulating off and on for over a decade is helping anything, especially when the likelihood of John Deere ponying up over $500mil for Cat from Textron is pretty slim. Also JD hasn't made a sled in 40 years, so how are they going to drive some miracle in innovation in a modern sled market? Clearly they saw their exit point and got off the sled train.
A more mutually beneficial arrangement (R&D Support and rebranding a certain line of cats to JD) seems more realistic and likely given the economic times and how JD's UTV/ATV Line looks from it's regularly fraudulent supplier. Would it be cool to see JD get back into the sled market? Sure! another competitor would be cool to drive innovation! Buying Cat doesn't make another competitor or drive innovation, it spends a pile of money overhauling management and rebranding a ton of stuff that could otherwise be spent on R&D during a potential turning point in market share.
Facing the facts, if Textron didn't buy cat when they did, this forum would be talking about finding aftermarket sources for parts, and wrecker listings to fix existing machines, instead of talking about new lineups coming out and what people don't like about the current direction of the company.
Edit: A cheap sled in ALL BRANDS is $11k anymore, I can barely get a 2016 550 fan cooled polaris for $9k USED where I am new is almost $14k. Cat didn't screw the sled market up, if you want to blame price hikes on anyone look at BRP ($30k for a sled? what?!?) or Polaris ($27k for a sled?!? What?!?!) Blame COVID Pricing insanity, and the other 2 majors for the rising prices, BRP has been hiking prices constantly for the last 7 years, the product hasn't changed much but the BRP logo costs $4k more than any other logo.