Arctic Cat

Arctic Cat traces back to 1960, when Edgar Hetteen left the company that became Polaris Industries and started building snow machines in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. The business went through several names, from Polar Manufacturing to Arctic Enterprises, and a 1981 bankruptcy nearly ended it before a new ownership group revived it as Arctco and later renamed it Arctic Cat. Textron bought the brand in 2017, briefly rebranded it Textron Off Road, then walked away from it in late 2024 and shut down production entirely. In April 2025 former Arctic Cat executive Brad Darling and a group of private investors bought the company from Textron, and the Thief River Falls plant was building sleds and side-by-sides again within months.

The current lineup runs from youth and trail sleds up to mountain machines built for deep powder, alongside all-terrain vehicles and the Wildcat XX side-by-side. The brand is known for hard-charging performance and a racing pedigree that shows up most clearly in its ZR line, and it has kept a real foothold in the mountain and boondocking segment where riders want a sled that climbs and floats where other machines bog down. Engineering and final assembly are still centered in Minnesota, with the St. Cloud engine plant feeding the Thief River Falls line.

Longtime owners tend to describe Arctic Cat in two breaths: real affection for the mountain sleds and the racing history, and open grumbling about fit and finish that has trailed the class leaders in some model years. The near shutdown under Textron and the scramble to restart in 2025 left a genuine gap in parts supply and dealer confidence that the new ownership is still working through, so it is worth asking a dealer directly about current parts availability before buying. Even so, the riders who commit to the badge tend to stay loyal for years, and resale on the popular models has held up better than the brand's recent corporate turmoil might suggest.