ATV Industry Facts: Did You Know?

Polaris wants to get wet.

Polaris Boats has recently confirmed their purchase of the Larson Boat Group; which includes the brands Larson, FX, Striper, Escape. Polaris intends to discontinue the Escape line of pontoons and will continue with the other Larson Boat Group brands, prioritizing models based on demand.

In case this news seems like Déjà vu to you, that’s because back in May (2018) Polaris went all in the boat game when they purchased Boat Holdings LLC in a $705-million transaction; With a full offering of pontoon, deck and cruiser boats, Boat Holdings’ consisted of four brands: Bennington, Godfrey, Hurricane and Rinker, with over 200 models across a range of price points along with fully-custom built options.

Back in November, Polaris purchased up a portion of a tournament fishing organization as well. The reason for all this watercraft love? Polaris says 30% of its existing customer base have boats already. Brand loyalty will play a role with it comes upgrade time and could also entice new boaters already floating (no pun intended) about Polaris’ dealer networks.

Bonus Fact: Ironically, in 2004 Polaris dumped off its personal watercraft and powerboat division, deciding instead to focus all its efforts on land machinery. Considering their recent resurgence of water world interest, we wonder if they aren’t going to want this division back.