Polaris is one of the most well-known manufacturers of motorcycles, ATVs, and other sporty machines. However, like any other vehicle manufacturer, COVID’s taken a toll on the company. The manufacturer saw a massive drop in profits in the first quarter of 2022, but the company has a plan to bounce back. Here’s a look at Polaris’ massive decline in profits and how it plans on recovering from the fall. 

Polaris’ revenues have not been doing well

Like with automakers, one of the weird things Coronavirus (COVID-19) did to the industry was create a massive imbalance of supply and demand. At the beginning of the pandemic, automakers saw a considerable drop in sales as few people bought cars. However, a couple of months later people were repurchasing cars, and as RideApart wrote, many automakers could not keep up with the new demand. 

This was made worse by the chip shortage, which only decreased the vehicles available. Something similar happened to Polaris.

The company saw a massive 70% rise in sales in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same time in 2020. However, the supply chain issues and inflation threats took its toll. As a result, in the first quarter of 2022, Polaris saw a 48% drop in revenues from the year before. That is nearly half. This drop in revenue has occurred throughout the company, as overall retail sales have dropped by 22% compared to last year.

The Polaris brand that got hit the hardest was Indian Motorcycles. It saw a 30% drop in sales. However, it wasn’t all bad news for the company. According to RideApart, Polaris’ off-road arm did see an increase in sales compared to the year before.

The strategic investments that Polaris hopes will allow it to bounce back

While the supply chain issues aren’t something Polaris can address by itself, it does have other ways it can bounce back from this drop in revenues. The fact that the company’s off-road arm did well shows it’s an excellent place to invest money in. However, Polaris said it has other investments lined up for the future.

One of the main things Polaris hopes to do better in the future is customer experience. This means not only investing in what a customer experiences when they walk into a dealership but also innovating products based on customer feedback. One of the ways Polaris hopes to achieve that is by gaining new insights into how customers interact with the brand. 

Polaris also plans to spend more money on research and development to make sure its products serve customers well. This includes creating new EVs that many customers hope to get their hands on. 

Here’s a look at what the company offers 

For now, Polaris customers have a lot of capable products to choose from. Indian Motorcycles is Polaris’ most well-known brand, and the company makes quite a few high-quality bikes. For example, the Challenger is one of the latest bikes from the company, and it comes with a powerful 1.8-liter V-twin engine that gets 122 hp and 129 lb-ft of torque.

In addition to the snowmobiles, ATVs, and other types of vehicles that Polaris produces, the company also makes vehicles for the military. These vehicles aren’t tanks, but they do what a Polaris is known for doing, which is off-road well.