The makers that left, in their own filings

In plain words. Two makers stopped building personal watercraft: Arctic Cat, which sold them as Tigershark, in 1999, and Polaris in 2004. Their own filings with the US regulator give their reasons, and both say the business did not make money. The sales numbers they printed count different things, so they disagree about which year sold most.

Arctic Cat left personal watercraft in 1999 and Polaris in 2004, and each gave its reasons in documents filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. This chapter reads those filings beside the makers' trade association's history of 2006, prints every sales figure in the measure its own document used, and marks what none of them says.

Words on this page (3)

Four-stroke: An engine type with its own capacity limits in the rulebooks; IHRA's Ski GP3 allows a 4-stroke up to 1050cc where a 2-stroke may have 850cc. Rulebooks state four-stroke capacity limits separately from two-stroke ones. The engine number on this site's model pages is the figure the records hold, which is not always a measured capacity.
Stand-up: A personal watercraft built for one rider who stands on it and steers with a pivoting handle pole. Rulebooks race these in the Ski division; the IHRA book uses stand-up as its plain word for the craft, in its Ski class rules and its drag classes.
Two-stroke: An engine that draws its air and fuel mixture into the crankcase and passes it to the combustion chamber through transfer ports, which open on the piston's downward stroke after the exhaust port. Rulebooks set separate classes and capacity limits for two-strokes and four-strokes, so the stroke count often decides which class a machine can enter.

Arctic Cat and the Tigershark, 1993 to 1999

Confirmed

Arctic Cat sold its personal watercraft under the Tigershark name, and its annual reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission cover the line: those from June 1996 on read it year by year, and 1993 to 1995 appear only as later reports look back. The reports of June 2000 and June 2001 say the company "entered the personal watercraft business in 1993, during a time of rapid industry growth". Its reports of June 1996, filed under the company's earlier name of Arctco, Inc., and of June 1997 list it as a member of the National Marine Manufacturers Association and the Personal Watercraft Industry Association; those of June 1998 and June 1999 add the International Jet Sports Boating Association and the Canadian Marine Manufacturers Association. That membership is the only place the racing body appears in any filing read for this chapter. Every annual report from June 1996 to June 2001, the two filed after the exit among them, also says the company sponsors independent drivers who race throughout the world, without saying in which of its products. The quarterly report filed on 12 November 1999 is the first held filing to record the exit: on 7 October 1999 the company announced that it was leaving the personal watercraft business effective 30 September 1999, and it would produce no units beyond the completed 1999 model. The annual report of June 2000 gives the reasons in the company's words. The market "was not profitable for Arctic Cat or its dealers"; the company did "not believe the industry will see significant growth in the near future and therefore further investment could not be justified"; and it would put management's time and its money into snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles. The same report records a pre-tax charge of 26.2 million dollars for "the discontinuation of its Tigershark line", covering the closing of the production line, help for dealers selling the remaining stock and service for existing owners, and the June 2001 report repeats the account. The June 2000 report's product section, written after the exit, lists seven 1999 models, the TS 770 R and TS 1100 R among them for what it calls the high performance market, and says the company "exited the PWC business in September 1999".

Sources: Arctco annual report June 1996; Arctic Cat amended annual report June 1997; Arctic Cat annual report June 1998; Arctic Cat annual report June 1999; Arctic Cat quarterly report November 1999; Arctic Cat annual report June 2000; Arctic Cat annual report June 2001

Polaris, 1992 to 2004, and the release that ended it

Confirmed

Every Polaris annual report read here dates the company's entry to 1992, and those of March 1996 to March 2000 name the SL650 of that year as "Polaris' first entry into this product category". The reports of March 1996 and March 1997 put personal watercraft at about 16 percent of Polaris's sales in 1995 and about 15 percent in 1996. From the report of March 1998 to that of March 2001 the range is described as touring, performance and racing models, the only use of the word racing about watercraft in the Polaris filings read. On 2 September 2004 Polaris announced, in a release filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, that it "will cease to manufacture marine products effective immediately", while continuing to supply parts, service and warranty to marine dealers and owners. The release gives the reasons through the company's president and chief executive. The market "has been in decline for several years, leaving industry sales today at about half the size of the market from its peak in 1996 with uncertainty of recovery". Marine products made up three percent of the company's sales in 2003, and fewer than 25 percent of its North American dealers carried them. The division's "lack of commonality with other Polaris product lines" had created challenges, and it faced "escalating costs and increasing competitive pressures". The release also states that "The marine business has never been profitable for Polaris", which had a pretax loss from operations of 13 million dollars in 2003, and it expected a loss on disposal of about 36 million dollars. The release says nothing about racing.

The sales figures, each in its own measure

Contested

The documents give five sets of sales figures in different measures, and two agree where they overlap: Arctic Cat's United States retail sales and the PWIA's United States sales both give about 200,000 units for 1995. Arctic Cat's annual reports of June 1996 to June 1999 each give one year of United States retail sales: about 200,000 units in 1995, about 191,000 in 1996, about 176,000 in 1997 and about 129,000 in 1998. Its reports of June 2000 and June 2001 change the measure to North American sales, which they say "peaked at about 210,000 units in 1995" and stood at "only 110,000 units" by the 1999 model year, which is not a calendar year. Polaris's annual reports give its own estimates of worldwide sales by calendar year: about 225,000 units in 1995 in the report of March 1996, about 230,000 in 1996 in the report of March 1997, and about 200,000 in 1997 in the report of March 1998. From March 1999 the reports say instead that "the number of PWC sold peaked at approximately 225,000 units in 1996", a sentence that names no measure, so Polaris's figure for 1996 is 230,000 in one report and 225,000 in the later ones. The same later reports turn to worldwide industry retail sales for a season ending on 30 September: about 160,000 for 1998, about 134,000 for 1999 and about 120,000 for 2000. Polaris's release of 2 September 2004 puts industry sales at about half the size of the market at its 1996 peak. The PWIA history of January 2006 gives United States sales: a peak in 1995 at about 200,000 units, 79,300 in 2002 and more than 79,500 in 2004, the last in a table that names the NMMA statistical abstract for 2004 as its source. So the 1995 peak is in Arctic Cat's North American figures and in the United States figures of Arctic Cat and the PWIA, and the 1996 peak is in Polaris's worldwide calendar-year series and its later peak sentence. They are different measures from different documents, and this chapter does not choose one year as the industry's peak.

Arctic Cat annual report June 2000 says: North American sales peaked at about 210,000 units in 1995, two years after Arctic Cat entered the market, and were about 110,000 units by the 1999 model year.
PWIA history of PWC 2006 says: United States sales of personal watercraft peaked in 1995 with approximately 200,000 units sold, and were 79,300 units in 2002.
Polaris annual report March 1999 says: The number of personal watercraft sold peaked at approximately 225,000 units in 1996, in a sentence that names no measure; the report's next sentence gives worldwide estimates by season.
Polaris release of 2 September 2004 says: Industry sales at the time of the September 2004 release were about half the size of the market at its peak in 1996.

Sources: Arctco annual report June 1996; Arctic Cat amended annual report June 1997; Arctic Cat annual report June 1998; Arctic Cat annual report June 1999; Arctic Cat annual report June 2000; Polaris annual report March 1996; Polaris annual report March 1997; Polaris annual report March 1998; Polaris annual report March 1999; Polaris annual report March 2000; Polaris annual report March 2001; Polaris release of 2 September 2004; PWIA history of PWC 2006

Emissions, in the companies' words

Confirmed

The filings speak of emissions rules as rules a maker had to meet, and neither company's statement of why it left names them. Polaris's report of March 1997 says the federal government had enacted legislation "mandating maximum emission standards for PWC beginning in 1999 with annual reductions in permitted maximums through 2006", and that "Currently, Polaris' two-cycle engines for PWC would not meet the new emission requirements without technical enhancement, which is under development." The report of March 1998 repeats this and adds that Polaris had licensed the Ficht fuel injection technology from Outboard Marine Corporation. The report of March 1999 says the Environmental Protection Agency required makers to cut emissions by 75 percent between 1999 and 2006, that California required the 2006 level by 2001 with further cuts in 2004 and 2008, that "Conventional two-stroke cycle engines cannot meet these more restrictive emission requirements", and that its Genesis, introduced in 1998 with the Ficht system, met the 2006 requirement. Arctic Cat's report of June 2000 says its 1999 models "were engineered and tested to meet emission standards", using the Ficht system from Outboard Marine Corporation for "the 1999 model year, the last year of PWC production". The PWIA history of 2006 dates the federal standards to early 1999 and California's to the 2001 model year, says direct-injection and catalyst-equipped craft had been in production since 1999 and that three makers introduced four-stroke models in 2002, and says that "with the 2003 model year, all manufacturers offered four-stroke models". Polaris's release of September 2004 names "environmental and product safety regulatory activity" among the general risks in its closing forward-looking statement, not among the reasons for its decision, and Arctic Cat's reasons, quoted above, do not mention emissions.

Sources: Polaris annual report March 1997; Polaris annual report March 1998; Polaris annual report March 1999; Arctic Cat annual report June 2000; PWIA history of PWC 2006; Polaris release of 2 September 2004

Who the filings name as rivals, and what was sold and owned

Confirmed

Each company's annual reports named its rivals, and the lists change with the exits. Polaris's report of March 1996 named Yamaha, Bombardier, Kawasaki and Arctco; its reports of March 1997, 1998 and 1999 named Bombardier, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Arctic Cat as the "other major PWC manufacturers"; and its reports of March 2000 and 2001 named Bombardier, Yamaha and Kawasaki. Arctic Cat's reports of June 1996 to June 1999 named Yamaha, Bombardier (Sea-Doo), Polaris and Kawasaki as major competitors, and its report of June 2000 named the same four in the past tense. The PWIA history of January 2006 counts four major companies then active: Kawasaki, whose JET SKI it calls the first commercially successful stand-up, of the early 1970s; Yamaha, whose WaveRunner of the mid-1980s it says created a shift from the stand-up to the sit-down; Bombardier Recreational Products, which it says re-joined the market with the Sea-Doo; and American Honda, which began selling the AquaTrax in 2002. The association's member list is those four. On what was being sold, the association says that "since the mid-1990s, sit-down style, multi-passenger watercraft have made up around 99 percent of all PWC sales". Arctic Cat's reports give their own split by seats, which those of June 1997 and June 1998 describe as the model types most widely owned, not as sales: about 56 percent two-person, 42 percent three-person and 2 percent one-person craft in June 1997; 54, 44 and 2 percent in June 1998; and 51 percent three-person, about 47.5 percent two-person and 1.5 percent one-person in June 1999. A one-person craft in those figures is not necessarily a stand-up, and the reports do not say which they mean.

Sources: Polaris annual report March 1996; Polaris annual report March 1997; Polaris annual report March 1998; Polaris annual report March 1999; Polaris annual report March 2000; Polaris annual report March 2001; Arctco annual report June 1996; Arctic Cat amended annual report June 1997; Arctic Cat annual report June 1998; Arctic Cat annual report June 1999; Arctic Cat annual report June 2000; PWIA history of PWC 2006

What the filings do not say

Confirmed

None of these documents connects either exit to racing. Arctic Cat's filings name the International Jet Sports Boating Association only in the membership lists of its reports of June 1998 and June 1999, its sponsorship of independent drivers is stated without naming a product, and Polaris's filings use racing only as the name of one part of its range. Neither company's statement of its reasons mentions racing, a racing programme or a team, so what happened to either maker's racing support when it left is not in them. The rule books carried the Tigershark after its factory stopped. The IJSBA's 2002 book still lists thirteen Tigershark lines under its Runabout Division, from the Barracuda to the 1000R, although Arctic Cat's filings say production ended with the 1999 model; the chapter on the manufacturers, 1985 to 2005, already reads that list as lagging the market. Nor do the filings say how either company arrived at its figures for the market, why Polaris's own figure for 1996 moved from 230,000 to 225,000 between reports, or what either company's watercraft business earned year by year.

Sources: Arctic Cat annual report June 1998; Arctic Cat annual report June 1999; Arctic Cat annual report June 2000; Polaris annual report March 1997; Polaris annual report March 1999; Polaris annual report March 2001; Polaris release of 2 September 2004; 2002 rule book

Not covered, and why (4)

Personal watercraft sales peaked in 1995 at about 200,000 units, or in 1996, stated as the industry's one peak year.: The manufacturer chapter holds this as a Master list item. The documents are now held, and they do not settle it: the 1995 peak is in Arctic Cat's North American figures and in the United States figures of Arctic Cat and the PWIA, the 1996 peak in Polaris's worldwide calendar-year series and in a later Polaris sentence that names no measure, and Polaris's own 1996 figure is 230,000 in one report and 225,000 in later ones. Each figure is printed with its measure and its document, and none is promoted to the industry's peak.
Emissions rules drove Arctic Cat or Polaris out of personal watercraft.: Neither company's statement of its reasons names emissions. Arctic Cat says its last models were engineered to meet the standards; Polaris's release lists environmental and product safety regulation only among the general risks of its forward-looking statement. Our research notes also record that no source they found says emissions rules caused the fall in sales of the late 1990s.
The makers' exits ended factory racing support, or a decline in racing caused them.: No filing read here mentions racing among its reasons. Our research notes give the one stated cause of factory withdrawal from racing as a Sea-Doo manager's remark in a 2004 trade-press article, which was not read for this chapter.
The name of the Polaris executive quoted in the 2004 release, and of its media contacts.: A person is named only where Key Figures has a page for them. The release's reasons are attributed to Polaris and to the office of its president and chief executive.

What could not be read (6)

Arctic Cat's own announcement of 7 October 1999 is not held. The SEC's list of the company's filings shows no current report near that date, so the announcement is read from the quarterly report of November 1999 and the annual reports after it.
Polaris's annual reports filed in 2002, 2003 and 2004 were not read, and neither was the Form 8-K that the release of 2 September 2004 accompanies or the presentation slides it mentions, so Polaris's estimates for the seasons from 2001 to 2003 are not here.
The National Marine Manufacturers Association's statistical abstracts were not read directly. The association's figures here are the PWIA's reading of them, and the PWIA history's 1995 figure names no source.
Neither company says where its market figures came from. Arctic Cat's reports attribute their snowmobile figures to the snowmobile makers' association and give no source for their watercraft figures; Polaris's are labelled its own estimates.
The held copies of the annual reports are extracts of their personal watercraft passages. Their financial statements were not read, so the watercraft results of either company by year are not here, beyond the charges and the 2003 loss the documents state in their text.
Trade-press accounts of the two exits, and a 1996 student news-service report of NMMA sales figures, were not read for this chapter and are not used.

Everything here is what two companies told their shareholders and the regulator, and what the makers' trade association told the public. An annual report is strong evidence of what a company said and when, its own estimates of the market included, but the estimates are the company's and the reports do not say how they were made. The association's history was written in January 2006 to argue against bans on personal watercraft in national parks, and its figures are printed as it gives them. None of these documents counts racers, races or entries.

Documents cited in this chapter

Arctco annual report June 1996 (sec.gov): Arctco, Inc. (Arctic Cat) annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 March 1996, Arctco, Inc., filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 1996-06-28; manufacturer primary, high. The company's annual report, filed under its earlier name. It says the company sold personal watercraft under the Tigershark name, gives United States retail sales of about 200,000 units in 1995, names Yamaha, Bombardier (Sea-Doo), Polaris and Kawasaki as major competitors, and lists membership of the NMMA and the PWIA. High for what the company states; its market figure gives no source.
Arctic Cat amended annual report June 1997 (sec.gov): Arctic Cat Inc. amended annual report on Form 10-K/A for the fiscal year ended 31 March 1997, Arctic Cat Inc., filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 1997-06-30; manufacturer primary, high. The company's annual report for the year to March 1997, the amended filing being the one EDGAR lists for that year. Gives United States retail sales of about 191,000 units in 1996 and a market split of about 56 percent two-person, 42 percent three-person and 2 percent one-person craft. High for what the company states.
Arctic Cat annual report June 1998 (sec.gov): Arctic Cat Inc. annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 March 1998, Arctic Cat Inc., filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 1998-06-30; manufacturer primary, high. Gives United States retail sales of about 176,000 units in 1997 and a split of about 54 percent two-person, 44 percent three-person and 2 percent one-person craft, and lists the company as a member of the NMMA, the PWIA, the International Jet Sports Boating Association and the Canadian Marine Manufacturers Association. (as Arctic Cat amended annual report June 1997 above)
Arctic Cat annual report June 1999 (sec.gov): Arctic Cat Inc. annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 March 1999, Arctic Cat Inc., filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 1999-06-28; manufacturer primary, high. The last annual report before the exit. Gives United States retail sales of about 129,000 units in 1998, a split of 51 percent three-person, about 47.5 percent two-person and 1.5 percent one-person craft, and the same four association memberships as the year before, the IJSBA among them. (as Arctic Cat amended annual report June 1997 above)
Arctic Cat quarterly report November 1999 (sec.gov): Arctic Cat Inc. quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended 30 September 1999, Note F, Arctic Cat Inc., filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 1999-11-12; manufacturer primary, high. The first filing after the announcement. Note F records that on 7 October 1999 the company announced its exit from personal watercraft effective 30 September 1999, the charge it took, and that it would produce no units beyond the completed 1999 model. (as Arctic Cat amended annual report June 1997 above)
Arctic Cat annual report June 2000 (sec.gov): Arctic Cat Inc. annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2000, Arctic Cat Inc., filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2000-06-29; manufacturer primary, high. The first annual report after the exit and the first held filing to give its reasons: entry in 1993, North American sales peaking at about 210,000 units in 1995 and about 110,000 by the 1999 model year, a market not profitable for the company or its dealers, and no growth to justify further investment. Also says its 1999 models were engineered to meet emission standards. (as Arctic Cat amended annual report June 1997 above)
Arctic Cat annual report June 2001 (sec.gov): Arctic Cat Inc. annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 March 2001, Arctic Cat Inc., filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2001-06-28; manufacturer primary, high. Repeats the June 2000 account of the 1993 entry, the 1995 North American figure, the 1999 model year figure and the 7 October 1999 announcement, and breaks the 26.2 million dollar pre-tax charge into exit costs, a change in estimate and other costs. (as Arctic Cat amended annual report June 1997 above)
Polaris annual report March 1996 (sec.gov): Polaris Industries Inc. annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 December 1995, Polaris Industries Inc., filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 1996-03-22; manufacturer primary, high. Says Polaris entered the market in 1992 with the SL650, estimates worldwide sales of about 225,000 units in calendar 1995, names Yamaha, Bombardier, Kawasaki and Arctco as the other major makers, and puts personal watercraft at about 16 percent of Polaris's 1995 sales. High for what Polaris states; the market figure is its own estimate.
Polaris annual report March 1997 (sec.gov): Polaris Industries Inc. annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 December 1996, Polaris Industries Inc., filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 1997-03-19; manufacturer primary, high. Estimates worldwide sales of about 230,000 units in calendar 1996, names Bombardier, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Arctic Cat as the other major makers, and says its two-cycle watercraft engines would not meet the federal emission requirements beginning in 1999 without technical enhancement then under development. High for what Polaris states.
Polaris annual report March 1998 (sec.gov): Polaris Industries Inc. annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 December 1997, Polaris Industries Inc., filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 1998-03-30; manufacturer primary, high. Estimates worldwide sales at about 200,000 units in calendar 1997, keeps the same four rivals, describes a five-model range of touring, performance and racing craft, and adds a licence of the Ficht fuel injection technology from Outboard Marine Corporation. High for what Polaris states.
Polaris annual report March 1999 (sec.gov): Polaris Industries Inc. annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 December 1998, Polaris Industries Inc., filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 1999-03-29; manufacturer primary, high. The first Polaris report to say the number sold peaked at about 225,000 units in 1996, and the first to give worldwide industry retail sales for a season ending 30 September, about 160,000 for 1998. Describes the EPA and California emission schedules and the Ficht-equipped Genesis of 1998. High for what Polaris states.
Polaris annual report March 2000 (sec.gov): Polaris Industries Inc. annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 December 1999, Polaris Industries Inc., filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2000-03-24; manufacturer primary, high. Repeats the 1996 peak at about 225,000 units, estimates worldwide industry retail sales of about 134,000 for the season ended 30 September 1999, and names Bombardier, Yamaha and Kawasaki as the other major makers, Arctic Cat no longer among them. High for what Polaris states.
Polaris annual report March 2001 (sec.gov): Polaris Industries Inc. annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2000, Polaris Industries Inc., filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2001-03-28; manufacturer primary, high. Repeats the 1996 peak, estimates worldwide industry retail sales of about 120,000 for the season ended 30 September 2000, names the same three rivals, and describes an eight-model range across touring, performance and racing segments. High for what Polaris states.
Polaris release of 2 September 2004 (sec.gov): Polaris to exit marine business (news release, Exhibit 99.2 to Polaris Industries Inc. Form 8-K), Polaris Industries Inc., filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2004-09-02; manufacturer primary, high. Announces that Polaris will cease to manufacture marine products effective immediately and gives the reasons through its president and chief executive: a market at about half the size of its 1996 peak, a small share of sales and dealers, a lack of commonality with other product lines, rising costs and competition, and a marine business that had never been profitable. High for what Polaris states.
PWIA history of PWC 2006 (pwia.org): The History, Evolution, and Profile of Personal Watercraft (a report by the Personal Watercraft Industry Association, January 2006), Personal Watercraft Industry Association, 2006-01; manufacturer primary, medium. The makers' trade association's own history, written to argue against park bans. Gives United States sales peaking in 1995 at about 200,000 units, 79,300 in 2002 and more than 79,500 in 2004, a sit-down share of about 99 percent since the mid-1990s, and four-stroke models from every maker by the 2003 model year. Medium: an advocacy document whose 2004 table cites the NMMA abstract and whose 1995 figure cites no source.
2002 rule book (web.archive.org): IJSBA 2002 Official Competition Rule Book, International Jet Sports Boating Association, 2002; sanctioning body, high. The complete 2002 book in 25 sections, the oldest full IJSBA rule book held here, served from a Norwegian club's document server and captured by the Wayback Machine. Four numbered technical parts (Stock, Limited, Superstock, Modified), three divisions, the 500 and 200 unit homologation figures, and the United States class list.

Cite this page

“The makers that left, in their own filings”, BaddJet archive, https://baddjetarchive.com/racing/history/the-makers-that-left/

Add the date you read it.

Every chapter, or the same history era by era.

Previous chapter: The Sea-Doo factory era, as far as documents go
Next chapter: Freestyle as a discipline in the rule books

1992 to 2004 · 6 sections · 1 contested · 4 claims held back