It is an interesting question. I don't think it's a big surprise. It would have been hard for them to start over after they went to the Cat chassis.
They did push for a little more refinement with some components and build on their lineup. I'm not sure if that bled over to the the Cat branded versions or if they were part of continuous improvement.
I think it's harder on the sport to have one less big name involved in the game. I know that people mention the term competition often. I see another aspect. It helps to have more players when it comes to dealers and choices. I often ride an area that doesn't have a Cat dealer close. They do have a Yamaha dealer. It has been common to stop in the Yammie shop for basic repair parts.
There is also the issue of factory or company branded promotion that helps local communities. Many fundraising events are cosponsored with factory backing. It's a little harder with one less big option available.

The engine discussions are wide open speculation in my book. The new 858 is a thought provoking setup. We'll see how it plays in the power and durability market.
The new chassis appears to have quite a bit of engine development tied to the layout. That stuff doesn't happen overnight. Some of the previous 4S stuff was done with the two companies "working together". The idea of using the 4S turbo doesn't appear to be part of the Catalyst development. I'm not saying it's impossible. It's just more of an afterthought to throw one in the chassis. I do think the big power 4S is an important option. There is a market for the sleds. Eliminating the option across two brand lines would not be good. It would be nice to see the easy power option with factory support remain in some form down the road.

 

I haven't been up to date on sleds or ATV's. Very content with what I own and the lack of snow the last few seasons prolongs my owning the 2015 and 2016. Both are fantastic runners and the ride quality is very comfy. I can ride 200 miles in a day at my age and feel still feel "alive" at the end of the evening. Does Yamaha make any atv/utv engines for Cat? My 2017 700 XT atv( camo- cat H1 engine) has been stellar. So I dont pay much attention to the newer models. Still own the 2014 1000 XT, again only a leaky water pump in 9 years. Not bad at all. The 858 surprised me. With the dumbo government going "green" on everything they can get the grubby little fingers on.

 

on the dirt side AC/tracker only build one atv, and 2 sxs
The 600 ATV has their own engine, all other machines are built by kymco and shipped to the US
The prowler pro has an 812 cc 3 cylinder chinese car engine (made by cherry used by deere kawi, and others)
The Wildcat XX has a yami 998

Rumors for the last several years have been that they have another couple engines coming for dirt and snow use.
I don't see them passing emissions without 4 stroke sleds in the line up, and it would be a big mistake to give away the big hp turbo 4 stroke market (although it wouldn't be the first one textron has made)

One of the neat things about the catalyst is the tube steel front end. In the overall scheme of things its pretty much free to tool up for production, or make changes (its a couple of welding fixtures vs 6 or 7 figures in tooling and testing for a casting like doo and poo use)
It would cost more to design new plastics to fit a bigger engine, than a new bulkhead.

 

Emissions on sleds is met with their current two strokes.

 

That is why they made Ctec 2. Does Polaris meet? Up until the last couple years, they had zero 4 strokes. As far as I can tell, the current ctec 2 engines meet or exceed federal regs. Now they are not allowed in Yellowstone, but could care less.

 

All the information you need to prove you aren't just making bs up as usual is right there, including the numbers for polaris and ski doo.
Since you won't grow up, and stop ruining threads, prove your claim.

 

Guys They can’t sell it if it knocks the fleet emissions out of approval. Big brother wouldn’t let them. Which is hilarious to me because how many guys leave the engine stock? Look at the number of aftermarket parts makers. Nothing like picking on a minority Motorsport to make up for the millions of modded diesel trucks I see all day pouring coal into the air.

 

Yamaha no more. They are making a very nice looking SRX retro model in black and gold for their final year. Does Cat still use their 4 strokes? How does that affect doo and pol? Cat announces a new 858 "stroker" 2 stroke engine for 2025 capable of 175hp (ish) and weighs less than their C-tec 600 engine. It will use the 800 cylinders but a longer stroke.

Not much changes really. Cat can still buy engines from Yamaha to meet their needs for 4 stroke market. Although I hope they look at this as a glass half full deal and take the opportunity to develop their own four stroke sled engine. It’s easier to work in house than through a contractor. That’s why Suzuki is gone.

 

Guys They can’t sell it if it knocks the fleet emissions out of approval. Big brother wouldn’t let them. Which is hilarious to me because how many guys leave the engine stock? Look at the number of aftermarket parts makers. Nothing like picking on a minority Motorsport to make up for the millions of modded diesel trucks I see all day pouring coal into the air.

Believe it or not the epa didn't think sleds are worth the effort either, but a tree hugger group sued them, and won. (blue ribbon coalition iirc)
The 4 strokes do a nice job of lowering fleet emissions numbers.

Not much changes really. Cat can still buy engines from Yamaha to meet their needs for 4 stroke market. Although I hope they look at this as a glass half full deal and take the opportunity to develop their own four stroke sled engine. It’s easier to work in house than through a contractor. That’s why Suzuki is gone.

AC has been preparing for this, they will release their own 4 stroke sled engine much sooner than you expect. Basically everybody with any knowledge in the industry knew the ac and yami split was coming. It was kind of a surprise that yami totally quit, but their only other option would to have doo, or polaris build sleds for them (some interesting rumors of poo test sleds with yami power last winter, and even rumors of argo building sleds in TRF for yami)

 

Believe it or not the epa didn't think sleds are worth the effort either, but a tree hugger group sued them, and won. (blue ribbon coalition iirc)
The 4 strokes do a nice job of lowering fleet emissions numbers.

AC has been preparing for this, they will release their own 4 stroke sled engine much sooner than you expect. Basically everybody with any knowledge in the industry knew the ac and yami split was coming. It was kind of a surprise that yami totally quit, but their only other option would to have doo, or polaris build sleds for them (some interesting rumors of poo test sleds with yami power last winter, and even rumors of argo building sleds in TRF for yami)

Most of the brain trust at Argo is ex Arctic Cat now anyway. I wasn’t surprised Yamaha left. Their last chassis was rugged but took a ton of criticism over weight and handling. The sled market has shrunk so fast over the last ten years it’s mind blowing. The kids I talk to now have no interest in new sleds. Too much money they say. Too much competition from ATVs. Not enough snow in the east. They talk dirt bikes all day long instead. Guys like me are dinosaurs.

 

Since the original tier III, there has been zero changes for sleds. All curren sleds meet that now. Reason why the dirty but great zuk 800 went the way of the doh doh.

 

Most of that is wrong. Regs haven't changed since tier 3 was released, but emissions are regulated on corporate average.
That is why you can still buy a 550 fan sled, as no fan engines meet the emissions regs, and are only allowed to be sold, by averaging them with machines that exceed regs.
Emissions had less than nothing to do with zuke and ac splitting ways. That's right up there with you saying you know for a fact the new engine will be an 870, and arctic cat and yamaha's relationship is stronger than ever.

BTW you still haven't posted any proof of your above claims, it must be sad living a life so miserable that your only joy comes from posting lies, and wrong info on sled forums.

 

Is anyone even going to notice that Yamaha is gone? With the 5%-8% marketshare that they had, it's not like many people are going to care. And with Cat ramping up the Catalyst, I suspect that overall production will be higher than previously with Cat's combined Procross Yamaha/Cat production. Everyone will be focused on the Catalyst, and Yamaha will fade in to obscurity......

 

Arctic cat will notice they are gone. It’s another drop in revenue they can’t get back. Even with them “ramping up” the catalyst I don’t see them getting back anywhere close to the numbers they were doing with Yamaha in the beginning anytime soon.

 

@Krom , I appreciate your input and information about the chassis. I am still trying to learn how this thing is laid out. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on one so I can dig deeper.

I hadn't really thought about the tube frame being so adaptable if they choose to add motor options. I think that is an important factor. There are many components in this chassis that are purpose designed to allow production changes between models. The smaller parts list and weight reduction with that approach is a good thing. I made an incorrect assumption that the bulkhead and engine cradle was limited by the modular design. Plastic is the easy stuff. In the big picture it's just a few more part bins.

To the point of the partnership going away, I also think it is an important factor. We had the benefit of dependable high power options with the partnership. It also helped the fleet average numbers when consumers bought those machines. I won't pretend to completely understand how those fleet numbers work, but I remember how Cat earned credits with their early 4S sleds. Honestly, it is hard a heck to read a set of regulations and relate that to real numbers. To many consumers, the point that matters is having the option to simply click on their order form with the biggest power available. If that option goes away without Yamaha, that's a big deal.