Arctic Cat returns from the dead (and some close calls) to make its one millionth snowmobile

Hundreds of beaming employees of Arctic Cat, Inc. gathered at the front of their factory in Thief River Falls last week to take a group shot to celebrate the company’s one millionth snowmobile.

Actually, the company has produced more than 1.7 million sleds, but they chose this week to call it a cool million.

The fact that the company exists at all today is a true-grit tale in corporate survival. The company went bankrupt in 1981 when it was called Arctic Enterprises, Inc. Before that, it had a near death experience in the early 1970s when demand for snowmobiles suddenly plummeted, leaving the company nearly destitute.

Part of the problem in the 70s was intense competition from around the nation and world. Back then there were nearly 100 brands of snowmobile. After the market collapse of the early ‘70s, the weak were weeded out, and Arctic Cat was still standing, though barely.

One of the reasons that Arctic Cat survived was the unusually fierce loyalty of its customer base. The company also had a core of extremely dedicated employees who believed in their product heart and soul. So Arctic Cat survived the tribulations of the 70s, only to crash into actual bankruptcy in 1981 for a variety of reasons.

The company reorganized in 1983 as Arctco Enterprises, and became a publicly traded company by 1990. The history of Arctic Cat has rarely been a smooth one. There were a string of extension product line failures, such as the collapse of its personal watercraft market. At one time, Artic Cat even sold French-made bicycles, mini-bikes and lawn and garden equipment -- all of which suffered eventual extinction.

Artic Cat has even been almost knocked off by global warming. Years of milder winters, and several with scant snowfall, sent sales of snowmobiles to the basement. However, by this time, Artic Cat was countering with a brand of ATVs which can be used practically year round.

Interestingly, what might be considered Arctic Cat’s greatest competitor, Polaris, both sprang from the same origin. Polaris Industries was originally founded by Edgar Heteen of Roseau and his brother-in-law David Johnson, who tinkered together what is considered the “first snowmobile” by many, although such types of craft had existed since the advent of the internal combustion engine.

Heteen was the first to truly sell the idea of the snowmobile to the general public. But Heteen relinquished his interest in Polaris in 1960, moved his operation from Roseau to Thief River Falls, and there you have the beginnings of Arctic Cat.

Amazingly, there are still a few employees who were part of the company’s reorganization from bankruptcy in the early 1980s still working there today. Many employees are drawn from a wide area around Thief River Falls, including workers in Kittson County, some of whom drive more than 60 miles one-way every day to work at the plant in Thief River Falls.

And so, the story of Artic Cat is one of loyalty -- brand loyalty, customer loyalty and employee loyalty -- and survival.