Polaris Celebrates 40 Years of ATV Manufacturing

Turning 40 and looking good doing it!

Celebrating four decades of, well, anything, is really quite an accomplishment! 2026 marks the milestone for Polaris in that they’ve been producing ATVs for 40 years now. Notice we didn’t say 40 years of producing the Sportsman? That first ATV of theirs was a little bit different from the AWD beasts we’re accustomed to now. In fact it was short a wheel from the factory, was the rare combination of being a 2-stroke as well as an automatic and it was fairly quickly replaced and outshone by its 4-wheel counterparts.

That’s not suggest there wasn’t some seriously forward-thinking innovation at play here – the Scrambler boasts the distinction of being the first ATV to come with a continuously variable automatic transmission, tech Polaris brought over from their experience in the snowmobile field. Little did we know at the time this configuration would basically become THE setup for all quads of the future from every manufacturer.

Don’t let any of that distract, though. This is quite the accomplishment in an industry as rough and tumble as ours and to celebrate the occasion, Polaris is releasing a 2026 Polaris Sportsman 570 Premium 40th Anniversary Edition ATV starting at a base MSRP of $10,199.

2026 Polaris Sportsman 570 Premium 40th Anniversary Edition Specs

Battery and motor:
567cc liquid-cooled, ProStar four-stroke, single-overhead cylinder (SOHC) engine
44 horsepower
Electronic fuel injection
Automatic passively variable transmission
Revised CVT ratio
Two- and four-wheel drive with auto-locking front differential
Suspension:
Front: Sealed MacPherson strut with 8.2 inches of travel
Rear: Sealed dual A-arm, IRS with 9.5 inches of travel
Brakes:
Single-lever, three-wheel hydraulic disc with hydraulic rear foot brake
Park in-transmission with lockable handle lever
Wheels and tires:
Front: 25 x 8-12 489
Rear: 12 x 10-12 489
12-inch steel wheels
Additional specs:
33.25-inch seat height
11.5-inch ground clearance
90-pound front and 180-pound rear rack capacity
1,350-pound towing capacity
4.5-gallon fuel capacity
Lock & Ride-compatible 5-gallon front dry storage
Front-rack extender with winch mount included
All-digital gauge
Colorways:
Treeline Green Metallic
MSRP:
$10,199