Recently we found out that Arctic Cat and Yamaha will be joining forces in 2014. They have reached a deal in which Arctic Cat will buy motors from Yamaha and Yamaha will obtain use of Cat's chassis. This is a huge move in an industry, now with only 4 manufactures, yet at one time showcased over 30 brands in the 70's. There is a lot of brand loyalty disputes involved with this as well as disagreement between which company this will help or hurt.
I personally think Yamaha will benefit quite a bit in the sense that they have a great reputation for quality and strong motors. Now that they can boast of a capable and lightweight chassis they appear to offer the total package.
Arctic Cat on the other hand has had much doubt recently in quality and reliability. It will be interesting to see how many Cat fan-boys stick with them. It will also be interesting to see how this affects prices and the industry as a whole seemingly having only 3 manufactures and decreasing competition.
Now the last important detail just may be the dispute over what to call these machines. YamaCats, or maybe ArcticHas?
