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Snowmobiles News Center > 2006 Ski Doo Tour Offers Some Exciting New Products
2006 Ski Doo Tour Offers Some Exciting New Products
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By Scott A. Sumner
I sat down with Dan Oitzl, District Sales Manager
North West Ontario for Ski Doo to the spring tour event in Thunder
Bay, Ontario
to ask some questions about the 2006 line up.
What’s new with the Ski Doo sleds for 2006 Dan?
There are many new things. We have a couple of new models. The Tundra
has changed dramatically, the first change in about 20 years.It
has a
completely new chassis. It is a REV style and has the same DNA but
it’s
own unique chassis. It is smaller than the REV, light like the new
Freestyle, except the tunnel is longer because it accomadates the
longer Tundra track. There is the same suspension as in the REV
on the
rear and has an A Arm front suspension which gives it better and
more
front travel.
The Freestyle is a brand new model?
The concept is we need more young people in the sport. The sport
has
been catering to a group of snowmobilers for years who are aging.
You
can see it in the demographics of the age of snowmobilers. Nobody
has
really done anything to bring new young people into the sport. You
look
at the average price of a snowmobile nowadays at about $10,000.
Even
the fan cools are up over $8000 and plus . We need something that
is
more playful, more fun and less costly. For $5199 you can get in
to a
brand new snowmobile that is probably, for most parents, a safer
vehicle for their children to actually ride. I would think the target
age group is 16 to 20 years old or new riders. There is nothing
between
the Mini z and the 380 fan in our line up until now. It is a sled
someone could transition to a REV sled. It is fully trailable, runs
well
on the trails. When I was growing up in the country , you were in
the
fields fooling around, making a little track for yourselve. You
can do
that with the Freestyle. It has a 300 cc single cylinder. Top speed
would be 80 to 85 Kmh. The natural transition would be a 380 or
550 fan
sled from that point on. You have a spring only order version of
the Renegade, a 1000cc?
We are Introducing it this year in a spring only version in a 1000cc
X
platform. I think for our market in Northern Ontario it will be
quite
strong. We do sell a lot of 600 and 800 Renegades but a 1000 is
a
natural. Depending on where you are the crossover sled is popular.
In
Northern Ontario you get a lot of crown land, old bush roads where
you
can ride. Guys would like to have a little more track underneath
them,
but they don’t want to go to the Summit in this area.
Was the season a good one for Ski Doo?
We had a fantastic season in my area, Timmins, Sudbury, North Bay
all
the way to the Manitoba border. The whole region did extremely well,
largely due to the snow conditions.The final numbers for this year
are
yet to come in because the year ends March 31st so they are just
tabulating the numbers now. We were tracking even a head of last
year
though. .There is a lot of interest this spring. Many are ordering
for
next fall. The first reason is snow conditions. The second is what
do
you have to offer. Is it something unique in the spring, something
you
can’t get in the fall. The avid enthusiast will order now.
The momentum
in our product line is amazing and it all stems from the beginning
of
the REV platform. At the beginning many said the REV was no good.
Now
look at all the other brands and guess what they are doing, they
are
following that trend. In 2003 it was said the REV would change
snowmobiling in the modern day, which it did. If you didn’t
follow suit
you got left behind.
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