Polaris/Bobcat Alliance

   / Polaris/Bobcat Alliance #1  

brittgers

Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2005
Messages
33
Polaris and Bobcat announce alliance
March 3, 2009

Bismarck, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota-based Bobcat Co., known for its skid-steer loaders, is forming an alliance with Minnesota-based snowmobile maker Polaris Industries Inc., in a move both companies hope will add customers and boost profits as they battle an economic slump.

Polaris CEO Scott Wine said his company will make work vehicles and sell them to Bobcat, for sale through Bobcat's dealer network. Later, the two companies will develop other vehicles and share technology, he said.

Polaris spokeswoman Marlys Knutson said the initial wave of vehicles will be made at the company's plant in Spirit Lake, Iowa, beginning next year.

They will be sold as Bobcats but will be "highly different than what we are selling at Polaris now," Knutson said.

Polaris, based in Medina, Minn., makes all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles and motorcycles. Bobcat, based in West Fargo, N.D., makes compact construction equipment.

Knutson and Bobcat spokesman Christopher Weishaar said the deal does not involve a sale or ownership change.

"It's just an alliance," Knutson said. "This is the first alliance of this type that we've had with another company."

Both companies have struggled in the global economic downturn.

Polaris announced in January that it was eliminating 160 full-time jobs and about 300 contractors in several plants due to weakening demand. It said its 2009 sales could drop as much as 20 percent from last year.

Bobcat announced last week that slack demand for construction equipment will force a production shutdown for part of this month at its plants in Gwinner and Bismarck. The company employs about 2,000 people at the two plants.

Workers at the two plants returned to their jobs Feb. 16, after an eight-week layoff that started in mid-December. Company officials said the layoff was aimed at giving dealers a chance to move inventory to clear the way for more machines.

South Korea's Doosan Infracore Co. purchased Bobcat in 2007 from Bermuda-based Ingersoll-Rand Co. Ltd., in a deal worth $4.9 billion.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
 

Tractor & Equipment Auctions

2006 International 9400i (A51039)
2006 International...
2015 F-550 Bucket Truck. (A51039)
2015 F-550 Bucket...
2014 New Holland T8.360 MFWD Tractor (A51039)
2014 New Holland...
1997 John Deere 8100 MFWD Tractor (A51039)
1997 John Deere...
2011 Cadillac SRX LUXURY (A50324)
2011 Cadillac SRX...
2018 Dodge Ram 3500 4x4 Utility Flatbed Truck - HEMI Gas, Gooseneck Hitch, Southern Truck (A51039)
2018 Dodge Ram...
 
Top