| ATV
Polaris
The story behind the Polaris RANGER®
It’s been two decades since the RANGER® 6×6 vehicle was introduced and revolutionised the side-by-side category in
1998. Mitchell Johnson, son of David Johnson – one of the founders of Polaris in the 1950s – was pivotal to the
conception of the iconic machine and tells us more about how the RANGER® rode to market…
hen discussing the
beginning of the
RANGER®, we first
have to think about
the vehicle in the
context of what
Polaris was doing at that time. In the
1990s, the Sportsman ATVs were
Polaris’ only Off-Road Vehicle and
was selling well.”
Polaris’ reputation for being one
of the fastest developing companies
in the powersport industry held true,
RANGER® went from initial
development to production line in
just two years.
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“Good speed, great ride and
handling with excellent off-road
capability, plus a greater payload
than any of the utility haulers on
the market were all attributes we
wanted the vehicle to have”
“We had talked from time-to-time
about making a side by side ATV for
a driver and passenger. Every
Friday we had a staff meeting in the
morning and then in the afternoon,
we’d go out and ride ORVs. We
always took at least one 6×6 ATV to
carry everything. We would try and
ride around with one person sitting
on each fender to see what it was
like. One day, Edgar Hetteen [one
of our founders] came to my office
and said we should make a 6×6 in
a side-by-side configuration, he
loved the machine but wanted to
ride beside his wife Hannah.”
Major decisions about the new
model were all made as ‘gut calls’.
“Edgar mocked up side-by-side
seating on a 6×6 in his workshop,
we spent an hour or so sitting in it to
see what it was like – should it have
handlebars or a steering wheel?
Should it be ride-on or ride-in?
These are all things that are gut
calls and we made using our
experience. With brand new
products like the RANGER®, you
never know if you’re going to hit the
bullseye with customers – the
customers themselves don’t
envision how the product will or can
be used. Take the microwave for
example, it hasn’t replaced the oven
like the developers thought it would,
but has instead created a new
market.”
The key in developing the
RANGER® in Mitchell’s opinion was
to keep the team and investment
small.
“I’m not sitting here saying that
we knew it was going to be a
success but we knew we had to get
something out there. If we had
identified a need, then we needed
to find out. I worked with Edgar,
Chuck Baxter – who was the VP of
engineering – and James Bergman
at BEAMCO in Alvardo, MN, to see if
he would do the initial concept
work. The idea was to keep
investment small, so that if we didn’t
hit the bulls eye, we could adjust
the sights easily to get on closer to
the target centre.”
During early conversations, the
main characteristics that the new
machine had to have were fairly
clear.
“Good speed, great ride and
handling with excellent off-road
capability, plus a greater payload
than any of the utility haulers on the
market were all attributes we
wanted the vehicle to have. Most of
all, it had to be a lot of fun to drive
and ride like the already popular
Sportsman line.”
52 | Farming Monthly | May 2018
“The initial prototype was
received well by management. And
the first production made a small
profit in the first year. We also
achieved ‘off-road’ status for the
vehicle – which was essential.”
The RANGER® is testament to
the Polaris culture – innovation and
development, moving with the times
and trusting staff to make decisions.
Even the name of the new model
was helped decided by employees.
“We’d been playing around with
names. One of the early Polaris
products was a RANGER®
snowmobile, when this model