Is Polaris Dominating The Competition in Sales?

Polaris made a presentation to its investors earlier this month, which contained some stunning claims.

Riding the success of its Ranger and RZR side-by-sides, Polaris’ presentation shows it has a significant North American market share advantage over any of its competitors. While no direct comparative numbers were provided in the presentation, Polaris did include one graphic which showed its rise in market share from 2005 through 2012.

According to this graphic, in 2005 Polaris was just behind Yamaha in third place with Honda in front by a comfortable margin. By 2008 Polaris and Honda were neck and neck, but Polaris was only beginning its ascent. The graphic seems to imply that in 2012 Polaris sold about twice as many models as any other manufacturer. Of course, this should be taken with a grain of salt as side-by-side data for Polaris competitors is only an estimate. Regardless, while Honda and Yamaha are shown to have dipped significantly since the recession started, Polaris has gotten much, much stronger.

Also of note in this graphic is that Suzuki has fallen from fifth in market share to last, being passed by Arctic Cat, Can-am, John Deere and Kubota. Can-Am’s progression shows a nice bump in market share with the release of the Commander for the 2011 model year. The same goes for John Deere when it updated its Gator line of side-by-sides for the 2011 model year.

If you’ve ever wondered how Polaris off-road sales break down, the graphic to the right is certainly interesting. We’re not sure how accurate this pie chart is, but it shows Ranger sales outpace RZR sales by a small margin, while ATV sales account for a little more than 25 percent of total off-road sales. It should be noted that it’s unclear if this represents the number of units sold or the total value of units sold.

Another interesting tidbit from the presentation is that Polaris says it is the ATV market share leader in North America. We knew its side-by-side dominance was never in doubt, but the ATV success was a bit of a surprise.