When will snowmobilers change their snowmobile? 

by : Denis Lavoie Articles from Denis Lavoie Publish on : 2008-11-04

Earlier this fall we published a survey in order to know when the snowmobilers were planning to change their snowmobile.  A little more than 270 people answered to this survey. 

First, we can observe from the results that 28 % changed their snowmobile last spring and that 16 % would do it before the beginning of the next season.  So, more than 44 % of the surveyed people will ride a new sled right at the beginning of the next season.

This snowmobilers’ passion to get a newer machine can be explained by two factors.  First, the fantastic 2007-2008 season in Quebec brought a new life to the industry and also to the snowmobilers.  These ones have been able to practice their activity in some extraordinary snow cover conditions.

The second factor we think that has a major effect on the observed tendency, is the high innovation level offered by the 4 main manufacturers to the snowmobilers since a few years.  New models, new engines, new technologies, etc…  It goes without saying that it becomes very tempting to change when we compare the models 2009 with the ones of the last 3 or 4 years.  We can chose more comfortable sleds, more powerful, easier to handle, but moreover in most of the times, less polluting and also needing less fuel to run.

Let us take a look now to the other results.  4 % of the responders indicated that they want to change their sled during the season…  It seems a little low but when we analyze the context where 44 % of the surveyed snowmobilers will have already changed their machine before the beginning of the season, we can see it is not so alarming.  Moreover, some manufacturers told us that many 2009 models are all sold.   

Always according to the results, we can also notice that 11 % of the surveyed snowmobilers plan to change their snowmobile at the end of the 2008-2009 season and 23 % of these ones will change it during the two following years.

Finally, 18 % of the surveyed snowmobilers have not yet decided how long they will keep their current machine.

At the light of this survey, we can then conclude that we may encounter many snowmobiles of the year next season!

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