Peckforton Castle in Cheshire, with its Land Rover Experience off-road course, was the snowy venue for this year’s Polaris Dealer Conference. Spread over two days at the end of January the heavy snowfalls of the previous week did not deter a turnout of 52 dealers, ninety six people in all, who made it to the venue. On the first day there was a full overview of Polaris Britain in 2012, which saw the company celebrating its 10th year as the UK subsidiary of Polaris inc. “The reports for the year were all positive,” says Country Manager Phil Everett, “with ORV unit sales up 5.4%, PGA business up by 34%, overall revenue up by 17.8% and an operating profit up by an exceptional 43%. We have an industry-leading three full-time ORV Area Managers and have also appointed a new technical staff member to provide comprehensive support for all our dealers.”
In his presentation Phil pointed out the rapid change in the market in the past three years with the Polaris Ranger taking 59% of the sales split in 2012. The castle setting and challenging 4x4 tracks were an ideal backdrop for the launch of new Polaris models led by the Ranger XP900 which boasts 37 new features, the most important of which is the shift of the new, British designed, Prostar Twin EFI engine to behind the seat, reducing noise and heat. A direct outcome of extensive customer surveys which also led to an increased wheelbase, the improved ergonomics and the most progressive Polaris suspension to date.
Other new additions to the Polaris line-up include the Ranger 800 Midsize with sporty EFI power and a top speed of 55mph, and the RZR 570 INTL also boasting many updates. Comments on the meeting concluded that it was the best dealer conference to date and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the ride out on the 2nd day. They found the presentations and seminars informative and extremely useful for their business, it was reported, and generally went away motivated and inspired for the year ahead with Polaris.
