Ask The Editors: Who is Making Coleman ATVs?
Believe it or not, Coleman has been dabbling in the powersports market for some time; distributing everything from mini-bikes to outboard motors for boats & rafts.
The ATV/ UTV division is a fairly recent venture with models being distributed through a variety of venues ranging from big box stores (as you pointed out) to everything woods-related giant Cabelas.
Their catalog is surprisingly robust and ranges from a 260cc ATV all the way up to an 800cc side-by side. You can check out their entire 2016 model range by clicking here.
It is believed their machines are in fact rebranded variants of vehicles manufactured by the Chinese company Hisun Motors. This would coincide with how Coleman is able to make a profit at significantly lower MSRPs than what is typically associated with Japanese, American and Canadian and Korean offerings at present.
By and large our advice has been to steer clear from Chinese ATVs and UTVs but please realize that a big part of this has to do with the way many Chinese models were distributed here in the States. For a long time they were being sold road-side at gas stations, shopping malls etc. not by distributors or dealers but rather by individuals who simply bought them in bulk off eBay and did their best to assemble them before slapping a for-sale on them. Worse still, many had no brand name, warranty, parts catalog or support as a result of being rebranded by companies that went under without notice.
All of that said, Coleman appears to be pretty serious about the business model, offering such things as factory warranty, full parts cataloging and authorized service centers. We have yet to encounter (and of course test) one of these machines yet but will definitely do so if the opportunity arrives and report our findings here.
