We’ve noted with interest that for MY2020 Yamaha has gone to 137-inch tracks on its whole product line.
Arctic Cat has followed suit and most of its high performance 2020 offerings have the longer track too.
It seems like only yesterday we were talking about the demise of the 120-121-incher and now that the rest of the industry (Ski-Doo & Polaris) have pretty much gone to 129-inch track lengths, the market seems to be saying: “We want an even longer track”! What’s this all about?
Here’s what we think is going on: Snowmobile sales are highly driven by consumer demand. What that means is, if a certain track length isn’t being requested by potential purchasers as much and dealer unsold inventories are building up with sleds built with certain features (or without them), it’s only a short matter of time before the OEM says: “Less people want this, so why should we be offering it”?
Such is the case with the 137 track. If customers are coming into dealers, walking past 129-inch models and requesting the dealer sell them a 137-incher, it doesn’t take long for the manufacturer to see how the order volumes at dealer shows are moving skyward for the longer track and going down for the 129. Supply-demand!
Here’s another reason. Have you noticed sleds are getting more expensive? It looks like today’s buyers shelling out big coin, want sleds that can do more than one thing. Trail riders want the ability to go off-trail once in a while.
They may not want to commit to a full-on powder sled (the way most Crossovers have gone the last few years) but at least want the option to get into the deep and not get stuck. 1
37-inch sleds are extremely competent in the foothills and can shred pow quite decently because of the new-age weight savings and 1.5-plus inch track depths these sleds offer these days.
Yep, it’s about supply-demand and about versatility. Now that the handling is so good on 137s, there’s a huge upside to ponying up for the extra cost of the longer track. We also think the resale on these sleds is going to be much better than on shorter tracked ones.
