Polaris 2010 Annual Report Download - page 7

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3
Our deep ORV product line, consisting of more than 30 products, reinforces the classic Polaris
formula for success: Deliver innovations across a broad range of customer solutions and models.
Andy Mills , lead project engineer of the new RMK.
We proved it with an exclamation point in ORV
in 2010, achieving an unprecedented 15 percent
year-over-year North American retail sales growth,
well outpacing overall market growth and our
own expectations.
The big ORV story, again, was with side-by-side
vehicles (SxS). Building on our firm foundation in
the premium end of the SxS market, we recently
expanded into the value segment, giving us access
to new customers and revenue.
“With the recession, this was the right time to go after
the value segment,” said Matt Homan, vice president
of ORV. “It opens up another one-third of the market
that we hadn’t tapped before, and gives us the
broadest SxS portfolio in the industry.”
Our winning formula includes meeting a broad
range of customer needs while continually
introducing innovative products. Another case
in point: the model year 2011 800 PRO-RMK
snowmobile. It’s an unbelievable 40 pounds lighter
than its predecessor.
“Taking 40 pounds off a sled was a major feat,”
said Andy Mills, lead project engineer for the
RMK product. “Typically, it’s a big deal to take
8 or 10 pounds off, so we turned some heads
with this.”
With mountain sleds like the RMK, riders are always
looking for stronger, lighter and faster models.
Removing nearly 10 percent of the weight was
largely the result of replacing steel with aluminum.
In some cases, weight removal was the by-product
of another improvement, as with running boards.
“Riders didn’t like that ice and snow could build up on
the running boards, so we created an open design
that lets the snow go through,” Mills said.
While the new RMK features even more innovations
than usual, “we still only used about one-third
of the improvement ideas we generated,” Mills
said, “so we’re already working on the next round
of improvements.”
CONTINUING TO GROW OUR
CORE MARKETS
VS