Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/164037
22 • September 9, 2013 • Powersports Business ATV www.PowersportsBusiness.com Arctic Cat plows ahead with farming implements SPEEDPoint line shown to farming and hunting media A member of the farm media test drives Arctic Cat's SPEEDPoint moldboard plow at a demo event in Hastings, Minn. MANAGING EDITOR P22x25-PSB11-ATV.indd 22 V BY W 50 Th con UT BY LIZ KEENER Typically media demo rides in the ATV and side-by-side world are centered around dirt, mud, speed and pushing machines to their limits, and though the event Arctic Cat hosted in late July definitely had dirt, activities involved more plowing and digging than highspeed riding. The OEM brought farm and hunting media to Hastings, Minn., to show off its SPEEDPoint line of accessories and to debut its new Prowler 500 HDX. Powersports Business tagged along as Jeff Lane, who works in ATV/ROV/Wildcat accessory product development for Arctic Cat, showed off the company's SPEEDPoint moldboard plow, tandem disc attachment and cultivator, along with its brush mower. Lane has been integral to the creation of many SPEEDPoint products, which also include a landscape rake, a planter/drill seeder and a drag harrow. As a landowner himself, he's modeled much of the product out of what he and his neighbors could use. "A lot of it was starting with basically the things that I wanted to have for making food ww ag of s Arc Joh ura 44 plots and guys who have property who need to work up the earth," he explained. "I just looked at myself as a typical consumer who has some hunting land and wants to improve the quality of their hunting land." The SPEEDPoint attachments, which are available for Arctic Cat's ATVs and Prowlers, aren't designed for the hardcore farmer, but they are ideal for food plot makers, landscapers and hobby farmers. Though that consumer base isn't large, Arctic Cat finds it an important segment to play in as a utility vehicle manufacturer. "It's not a huge market by any means, but it's just one that we serve and no one else is really serving," marketing communications manager John Tranby said. When Arctic Cat set out to create the SPEEDPoint line in the mid-2000s, the company immediately focused on making farmgrade accessories, so customers weren't always dealing with repairs. Third-party sourced accessories were considered, but they never See SPEEDPoint, Page 24 8/28/13 10:53 AM