(February, 2010) - Polaris Industries Inc. has announced its acquisition of swissauto Powersports, a firm based in Burgdorf, Switzerland. swissauto is known for its expertise in designing and developing high-performance and high-efficiency engines and innovative vehicles. The acquisition will likely strengthen Polaris' engine and vehicle design capability across the globe, while also reinforcing the company's European presence.
Polaris has a long history of working with swissauto, a company whose core capabilities are in development, prototyping and manufacturing of internal combustion engines. The high-performance, four-stroke Weber engine that Polaris uses in several current snowmobiles was developed by swissauto, and the Swiss firm has also produced top-tier racing engines for the World Motorcycle GP series. The company's V4 2-stroke 500 cc engine drove 29 wins, 41 Poles and 3 World Championships during the 1990s. A new racing bike developed by swissauto also competed aggressively against larger Japanese OEMs in the late 1990s. This bike achieved the pole position twice during its first season of racing and ranked in the top ten several times.
Polaris acquired the Powersports portion of swissauto and will continue to operate in the current swissauto facility located in Burgdorf, Switzerland. The automotive division of swissauto was not involved and will continue to operate autonomously.
About Polaris
With annual 2009 sales of $1.6 billion, Polaris designs, engineers, manufactures and markets off-road vehicles (ORVs), snowmobiles and Victory Motorcycles for recreational and utility use. Polaris is a recognized leader in the snowmobile industry, and one of the largest manufacturers of ORVs in the world. Victory Motorcycles, established in 1998 and representing the first all-new American-made motorcycle from a major company in nearly 60 years, are rapidly making impressive in-roads into the cruiser and touring motorcycle marketplace. Polaris also enhances the riding experience with a complete line of Pure Polaris apparel, accessories and parts, available at Polaris dealerships.