ATV Industry Facts: Did You Know?

Longevity incarnate.

When we think of early ATV brands, perhaps Honda is the first to spring to mind. Truth of the matter is Kitchener, Ontario’s ARGO has been around and producing all-terrain vehicles for over 50 years with no signs of slowing.

Ontario Drive & Gear Limited (ODG) was founded in Kitchener, Ontario in 1962. As the subsidiary of a German company, its objective was to design and manufacture power transmissions and gears for the North American market.

One of the first tasks for ODG was to develop and manufacture a special transmission for a 6-wheel-drive, skid steer ATV known as the Amphicat. It didn’t take long for them to realize that if they were already producing the hard parts, creating a vehicle around them was the way to go. In 1967 the Argo was born Realizing the potential of the ATV market, ODG decided to introduce its own 6-wheel amphibious vehicle – the Argo. Named after the Argonauts of Greek mythology, these were machines meant to own the land as well as the water.

The company has been known for their 6×6 and 8×8 amphibious crawlers ever since but after half a century of producing these machines, 2018 marked the company’s first foray into the traditional 4-weeler segment with the Xplorer segment of 4x4s; a line of 7 models/ trims its first year in existence.

Bonus Fact: All of the Xplorer ATVs are powered by a 503cc single cylinder 4-stroke engine with Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI), a single overhead cam and liquid cooling with auxiliary fan.