I know, it’s too early to speculate on a question of this magnitude. Or is it?
Here’s where I’m going: Three years ago no one would have believed any snowmobile OEM would have the testosterone to introduce a turbocharged 2-stroke targeted directly at the consumer flatland/trail marketplace. As we all now know, both Polaris and Ski-Doo offer their turbocharged 2-stroke engine packages in trail sleds.
Arctic Cat has a new 858cc 2-stroke SDI twin engine package destined for 2025 model year CATALYST models in three genres: Trail, X-Over and mountain. The sheets are off these new sleds with the impressive 858 under the hood.
Understanding Arctic Cat has been on the cutting edge of turbocharged 4-stroke power in the snowmobile biz, we’re wondering if AC will settle for continuing to cover this profitable segment with the current Yamaha 4-stroke Thundercat in the ProCross chassis.
Would AC be wiser to spend development money on figuring out a way to get Yamaha’s 998cc triple turbo into the CATALYST chassis and leverage Yamaha way into the future for these formidable powerplants or…would development money be better spent shoehorning a turbocharger into the new 858 for an MY 2026 introduction?
I cannot see Arctic Cat going to market without a turbo in its lineup. After all, AC was the first OEM in this industry to intro a turbocharged snowmobile engine.
Remember the T-660 Suzuki triple cylinder 4-stroke turbo circa 2006? No one will forget the incredible succession of Suzuki 1100cc 4-stroke turbos in the F and Pro Cross platforms. Arctic Cat pretty much owned the turbo marketplace for more than a decade. BTW, building and selling the fastest production snowmobiles in the world for years is a highly profitable proposition.
Honestly, I cannot answer the original questions I posited at the beginning of this diatribe. However, my question of whether or not AC will turbo the CATALYST with either a 2-stroke or a 4-stroke turbocharged engine seems pretty elementary at this juncture.
So, I’ll go out a limb here and offer my best guess. Yes – and yes!
