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FOCUS PSB UTV-Sport 26 • July 11, 2016 • Powersports Business www.PowersportsBusiness.com New models to be rolled out in three waves BY LIZ KEENER MANAGING EDITOR One minute I was in Arctic Cat chief market- ing officer Greg Williamson's office; the next I was in Sand Hollow State Park in Utah, riding a Wildcat through dunes and rocks alongside NASCAR legend Tony Stewart. Williamson recently showed me Arctic Cat's newest marketing piece for its Wildcat sport side-by-side. The Minnesota-based OEM partnered with Tony Stewart to shoot a 360-degree video of Stewart riding through Sand Hollow and had the video edited into a seamless 360-degree virtual reality experi- ence. Simply slip on a VR headset equipped with a cell phone and Arctic Cat's virtual real- ity app, and away you go in just seconds. "It takes all of our Wildcat vehicles, all three platforms into the Sand Hollow State Park to ride both rocks and dunes, which is a cool way to bring that Wildcat experience to consumers no matter where they are, so that's been really successful," Williamson explained. The video comes as the second in the series, as the first was developed for the snowmobile segment. Since it was released for the 2012 model year, the Wildcat has been one of the highlights of the Arctic Cat lineup. Starting with just one two-seat model, the Wildcat lineup has grown, with four-seater and trail models added along the way. In its current lineup, Wildcat offers two two-seater X options, one four-seater X version, three sport models and four trail units. "If you look at what we've done over the years, we started with the original Wildcat; we gave it a performance hike, some suspen- sion tweaks with new suspension suppliers, went to the Elka Stage 5 shocks, so we've made iterations throughout the life of it," said Craig Kennedy, director of product development for wheeled products. With the Wildcat and its marketing partner- ship with racing star Robby Gordon, Arctic Cat has also been able to emerge in the West and Southwest markets, where it was relatively an unknown brand until a few years ago. "It definitely broadens our reach, not only geographically but user-wise, out of the utility market and the snowmobile market and into the performance side-by-side market," Wil- liamson said. "It's certainly been successful, but there's still a lot of work to do. We're still on the journey." In an effort to boost Wildcat's reach and sales, Arctic Cat has begun racing its sport side-by-side at Gordon's Stadium SUPER Truck races and demoing and displaying the units at Stewart's All-Star Circuit of Cham- pions sprint car races. Arctic Cat is the title sponsor of that series. The OEM also sponsors a factory WORCS racing team, which Williamson said has earned a number of podiums already this season. He said of marketing the Wildcat lineup, "We're sort of attacking it from all fronts — user activation, cool technology and innovation, like VR, as well as race sponsorships." WAVES OF NEW MODELS Though Arctic Cat is already pleased with how the Wildcat lineup is performing, a fresh launch is set for October, part of the OEM's new model release strategy. Starting this year, Arctic Cat will be unveil- ing new product three times per year, in groups they call "waves." Wave 1 for the 2017 lineup was July 1, though some models were launched within the weeks and months before that. Wave 2 is set for October, and Wave 3 of the 2017 models will be in March. "What this provides us is a constant pipeline of new products," Williamson explained. With three waves annually, Arctic Cat can reveal product when it is ready for wholesale orders to be shipped immediately. "Continue to look for new product from us," Williamson said. "When you say new Wildcat continues to perform well for Arctic Cat See Arctic Cat, Page 31 With its 50-inch width, the Wildcat Trail has been a popular model for Arctic Cat.