Hi, I’m a sophomore college student at the University of Michigan. I am taking a summer school marketing course in branding. The main grade in the class is a branding project.

I have been assigned Honda ATV’s as the company for the project. I need to learn about both the Honda brand and their competitors. (Honda, Yamaha, Polaris, Artic Cat, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Bombardier)

So, what I am asking you all for is some insight on what each brand stands for, what types of people buy the different brands, and which products are know as being the best.

I hope this is post is not too confusing. Thank you.

Also, if you have any suggestions on sites where I could find more information it would be appreciated.

- bwolf

 

Well, Honda and Yamaha are the two big dogs in the business. If you didn't already know, there are three main categories for ATV's: sport, utility, and the mini's (for young children). Honda's biggest rival is Yamaha. Honda is probably best known for their reliability. Here are some sites that will help you learn about the companies you listed:

Honda ATVs
Yamaha ATVs
Polaris ATVs
Arctic Cat ATVs
Suzuki ATVs
Kawasaki ATVs
Bombardier ATVs

The forum member "Knowsalot" can give you sales figures for most if not all of these companies. I am not sure where he posted these, but he may be able to help out if he sees this...

 

best is a loose term here. hondas never really been known to be the fastest in its class out of the box stock but its always very very close to its competition but usually surpasses them in reliability. this train is rarely late. the 250r's aftermarket is that only matched by the air cooled 60's VW beetles and the Yamaha Banshee. you could build a honda 250r without using one honda part.

 

Im sure your going to want to start with each web page to find thier creed and what not. But to get other information, I would surf numerous forums relating or specific to each brand. Maybe make a survey, I had to do a project in my Advertising class on the Toyota Matrix and its competition. Is this a group project?

BTW I noticed this is your first post? Do you own a quad or just looking to us for information?

 

Honda is a pretty unique company in that none of their ATVs are really ever the best in their class, but they usually sell as good or better than the competition which may perform better. They stand by their reliability and dislike putting cheap parts on their machines. HA2 said it pretty good in that, they're never really the best out of the box compared to the competition, but they surpass others in reliability and will get the job done. In my area, farmers really enjoy Honda utility ATVs because of their ability to just keep on ticking, even with little or no maintanence.

 

u can also use the search feature and just type in what u want to know

 

Thank you all for the quick information. I will start visiting the competitive sites tonight.

Yes, this is a group project. At the end of the quarter we will be preseting our entire brand stategy to the class. I am responsible for the competitive information, but am happy to gather any information on the brand that you all would like to share.

I do not own a quad, but one of the guys in my group has one, a Honda. We are hoping to visit a dealer and all going for a ride before we are finished with the project. There is a good chance that all this research will get me into off-roading.

 

Nothing runs like a deer!



My bad off topic. That is cool. When I was in school we never got to do any good projects

 

Oh believe me, if you take a ride on a good 4wheeler and you enjoy the outdoors at all, you WILL get hooked.

 

amen