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Prepare Your Polaris RANGER Cab For Winter

November 15, 2018/in Machinery, Press Release/by Tony Hawkins

Prepare Your Polaris RANGER Cab For Winter: Keep the winter outside with Polaris Engineered Parts and Accessories for the RANGER cab, specifically designed to enhance the riding experience whatever the weather.

With the RANGER Pro Shield Cab System – the tightest sealing cab system in the industry – alongside a number of in-cab accessories designed to help with the cold, dark winter months, Polaris offer unprecedented cab comfort and protection from the elements with the RANGER parts and accessories lineup.

Andreas Geisinger, Manager of Polaris EMEA Parts, Gear & Accessories Business, explained: “The RANGER is completely adaptable to any riding conditions, and so the cab should be too. We created the Pro Shield Cab System exclusively for the RANGER XP 1000, alongside the design and development of the vehicle itself for the perfect fit. This resulted in a 360-degree gasket seal that keeps draughts, dust and moisture out, fully preparing the RANGER for anything Winter has to throw at it.”.

RANGER Pro Shield Cab System

With a variety of cab components available – from roofs and doors, to windshields and rear panels – there are unlimited ways to configure the RANGER cab system for any environment, any purpose and any weather. All of the RANGER Pro Shield Cab components are built with a seamless fit and Lock and Ride compatibility, giving maximum convenience with easy-on and easy-off installation without the need for any tools.

Roof – A winter must-have for protection against rain and maintaining heat, a Polaris Engineered roof delivers fully-sealed coverage and advanced integrated roof water channels, directing water away from the cab even when stationary. Choose from impact-resistant poly, ultimate-strength steel, or lightweight canvas material.

Doors – Complete the cab with the RANGER Pro Shield Cab System door line. The premium, fully-sealed doors are finished with solid latches that feel sturdy and secure, integrated storage and controls, pre-designated mounts for audio speakers, and multiple window options for ventilation. Finalise the look with exterior accent panels colour-matched to the existing RANGER collection.

Windshield and Rear Panel – Keep riding regardless of weather, with Polaris Engineered windshields and rear panels. Choose from tempered safety glass for perfect clarity and top scratch resistance, standard poly for high-value durability, or hard-coat poly for 30x more scratch resistance than standard poly with extreme impact-resistance – all providing protection from dust-swirl and rain. Polaris have enhanced their windshields and rear panels with venting options, to control airflow into the cab depending on conditions.

Winter-proof Accessories

Complete your preparation for winter by adding extra comfort and capability to your RANGER, with premium Polaris Engineered Cab accessories.

Windshield Wiper and Washer System – Add all-weather visibility to your ride with the top-selling wiper and washer system. The 17-inch mounted kit wipes away rain or snow with ease, meaning a safer, easier ride. Operated by a simple rocker switch to wipe/spray fluid, and all mounting hardware and wiring is included. Polaris Pulse ready.

Heater & Defrost System – With eight vents for the best coverage of air dispersion, the system can be used for heating or cooling the cab, as well as defrosting the windshield. The dash-mounted controls allow easy control over the three levels of fan speed and temperature. Each vent can be manually opened or closed. Polaris PULSE ready.

Heated Seat System – A heated seat is a premium cold-weather luxury you wouldn’t expect from a UTV, but the Heated Seat System for the RANGER is just that. Designed to fit the RANGER three-person stock seats and comes with all the necessary wiring for a straightforward installation. Polaris PULSE ready.

Multi-Function Cab Light – A valuable tool with a variety of light uses in and out of your RANGER. The light provides necessary light inside the cab during the dark winter months and the LED dome can also be detached to be used as a torch where needed. The light is battery-powered but usefully recharges when the vehicle is in use. With multi-colour functionality offering white, red, blue and green LED lighting options which allow for a host of night activity – red for preserving night vision, blue for night fishing as it doesn’t produce glare on water, and green for navigating without disturbing game. Polaris PULSE ready.

With over 1,900 accessories in the range, Polaris offer a number of additional solutions to get winter-ready, such as Plows and Winches.

Polaris’ ‘Ultimate RANGER Experience Winners

July 26, 2018/in Events, Press Release/by Tony Hawkins

Polaris’ ‘Ultimate RANGER Experience Winners: The winners of the ‘Ultimate RANGER® Experience’ competition were announced on Monday 16th July on the Polaris website at www.ranger20thanniversary.com.

Polaris launched a competition in May to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their best-selling utility vehicle, the RANGER®. Entrants were given the chance to win an ‘Ultimate RANGER® Experience’, by uploading a picture and caption showing their own personal RANGER® experience. The competition was a great success with over 320 entries being submitted throughout May and June from 36 participating countries across Europe, Middle East and Africa, to be selected for one of the two European experiences, with the RANGER® at the heart. The top 3 finalists were selected from each country before being reviewed by a panel of judges, including a representative from Polaris Industrial Design in the USA, to select the winners. The judges were looking for authenticity, inspiration and enthusiasm for the brand.

Rodrigo Lourenco, Vice President and General Manager of Polaris Off-Road Vehicles EMEA, said: “I’m sure the judges had a very difficult decision when picking the winners, as many of the entries show a real passion for our brand, with amazing stories from every country and uses for the RANGER® that we had never seen before. Thank you to everyone who took part and made this competition a success – the perfect way to celebrate the RANGER® 20th Anniversary this year.”

The two winners have been announced:

Peter from the UK, who is part of the NHS North West emergency response services, with his entry showing a Polaris RANGER® 6×6 being used to assist the team where conditions are treacherous and do not allow conventional ambulance access.

Judges said “It is truly inspiring to know the RANGER® can, and is, being used to save lives by the North West Ambulance Service – what a wonderful way to showcase how versatile the RANGER® is.”

Peter will be sent to the Greece, to explore the Greek island of Naxos in a RANGER®. They will take a trip around the mountain villages, tour the ancient ruins and soak up on the sun on the long stretches of beach. They will also be a chance to take the RANGER® on a drive to Kasto, a hilltop castle dating back to the 13th century.

Manya from Belgium, who submitted a photo of their custom-built RANGER® 570 in Northern Spain’s Picos de Europa National Park. Located in the mountains, the national park is known for rocky terrain, beautiful scenery, and its resident Cantabrian Brown Bears. It makes sense then, that Manya built an aluminium trunk cover to prevent any bears taking food and materials from the RANGER® whilst visiting.

Judges said “Another perfect example of how our RANGER® can be adapted to suit any adventure and master any environment, even if that does involve hungry bears!”

Manya will enjoy a trip to Iceland, where she will enjoy the stunning landscape of the Icelandic mountains and see how the iconic RANGER® is customised and used by owners of lodges in the mountains to access their remote cabins.

Twenty years ago, Polaris introduced the very first RANGER® vehicle. Since then, the RANGER® has become known as one of the most dependable side-by-side and is the No.1 selling utility vehicle worldwide. With industry-leading capabilities in some of the most relentless conditions imaginable, its’ legacy continues to grow stronger year on year. Fueled by consistent innovation, the Polaris RANGER® range has been designed to be the hardest-working, smoothest-riding SXS ever built.

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The most northern RANGER EV in the world?

July 5, 2018/in Machinery, Press Release/by Tony Hawkins

The most northern RANGER EV in the world?: Known for its remote, unforgiving terrain and polar bears, Svalbard is a Norwegian island situated between mainland Norway and the North Pole – it’s one of the world’s most northernmost inhabited areas and also home to a RANGER EV…

The RANGER EV belongs to Hurtigruten, the biggest travel company in Norway and the largest employer in Svalbard. Owning three hotels on the island, a number of restaurants, a lunch bar, two shops – which sell expedition and safety equipment – and the Polaris dealer, IGP. Hurtigruten Svalbard is also responsible for operating the Culture House.

Kjetil Viklund, General Manager at IGP, said: “We used the RANGER EV a lot for moving things from our storage unit to the shop and vice versa. We also use it as a demonstration unit for our customers. It also is handy when we have special guests to the island who can borrow it as a form on transport.”

The features of the RANGER EV lend themselves to making it a useful machine for the company.

“It has a good loading capacity and is perfect for bringing goods from our storage unit to our shop. It’s very comfortable for the driver and a passenger and gives us shelter from the weather – with average temperatures between minus 9 and minus 16 degrees Celsius cover is appreciated. It’s also very quiet and often it’s easier to use the RANGER rather than a car.”

With the importance of maintaining the biodiversity of the island at the centre of inhabitants minds, the focus on the environment and limiting humans impact is key.

With stunning scenery, a highly diverse and concentration of wildlife and amazing experiences on offer, Svalbard is quickly cementing its place on the tourism map, but with this is the responsibility of ensuring that the environment remains central to operations.

“For me, electric powered vehicles are the future and an environmental focus is very important – as well all know that fossil fuels will not last forever. In my mind, it will take many many years for the market to completely change, but I’m happy that we’ve started.”

Also offering petrol and diesel engines for the RANGER, Polaris celebrated rolling the one-millionth RANGER machine off the production line in 2017 and 2018 marks two decades since the utility vehicle was introduced to the Polaris line-up. Forming a key part of the Polaris product line, the RANGER® is used all over the globe for a variety of tasks.

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Development Of The New RANGER XP 1000

June 18, 2018/in Machinery, Press Release/by Tony Hawkins

Development Of The New RANGER XP 1000: Two decades since the introduction of the very first Polaris RANGER®, the historic legacy continues with the launch of the new RANGER XP® 1000.

The RANGER XP® 1000 is the latest addition to our strong utility vehicle line-up, and sets a new industry standard with over one hundred user-inspired improvements. It features class-leading power (82hp) and torque (61lb-ft), industry-leading towing (over 1100kg) and ground clearance (330mm) – which make it is the hardest working, smoothest riding SXS built.

So what does it take to design the new RANGER XP 1000?

Steve Wilcox, Senior Industrial Designer at Polaris Industries commented on development:“The process of getting a new product ready for production involves research, sketching, clay modeling and then a full-size hard model is created. This is followed by A-side Computer Aided Design (CAD) data for tooling. During the early phases of sketches and clay development, a new model can take between 24-32 months to complete a ground up design, with several team members contributing up to 65 hours per week.”

Steve was the Senior Designer of the RANGER XP® 1000, and responsible for the creation of the 2D exterior styling concept that was chosen to go into production and also overseeing the development of the design in clay, Computer Aided Design (CAD) and production.

“I love the RANGER line-up and I’d say that the new XP® 1000 is my favourite as it’s a product of my own blood, sweat and tears – and it turned out great.”

The Industrial Design department can often have five to six major programs running simultaneously, each having their own designer assigned. Very often, Senior Designers like Steve can often work on more than one project at once.

“Typically I have direct involvement between three and five major programs at any given time and frequently have a few smaller programs sprinkled in as well.”

Customer insight was used for the developments made to the RANGER XP® 1000 with 100 customer inspired updates being incorporated into the product.

Tiger Bracy, Manager of the Industrial Design team, said: “The “Voice of Our Customer” is always present and taken into consideration in the development of our products. We use online studies, dealer research, ride clinics, and focus groups to gather as much feedback as possible. This way we can make sure we’re delivering on what the consumer wants.”

Steve agrees: “Without the consumer, we have no product. As a designer, I am provided with lots of research by the product team but on top of this I always try to collect my own data by having informal and personal interviews with real people and asking very specific questions.”

While customer demand is an important driving force for constant innovation, so is the desire to remain a global powersports leader.

“We update models because our customers demand improvement and they deserve them, but awe also do it so that we stay ahead of our very aggressive competitors. We aim to refine our models with new features, and push the limits of design to maintain our position as industry leaders,” explains Steve.

With so much valuable feedback and data from owners as well as years of experience and knowledge, how does the team decide which improvements and changes are the most important?

“It’s a balancing act between functionality, performance and style,” admits Tiger. “We rank the attributes that are most important to customer’s needs, and we turn them into characteristics that the vehicle must deliver on.”

Steve concurs: “It’s also a case of balancing what is feasible within the scope of the program. We use our own experience and creativity to solve problems and enhance the user experience. Sometimes the consumers don’t realise there are areas to be improved. We’re enthusiasts ourselves and scrutinise the experience – perhaps sometimes more than our users – this is where we have the opportunities to innovate.”

Both agree that working on a product, and then seeing it being used by customers is an extremely rewarding experience.

“I love seeing the products that we’ve worked on being used by customers. For me, the RANGER DNA is ‘Hardest working, smoothest riding’ and it applies to all the RANGER’s I’ve worked on. I’d say the biggest challenge is always having to prioritise the most important styling features because during the engineering process, compromises will always be made. It’s hard to let some of the key elements go, but you must in order to balance other features. My favourite parts of the latest RANGER are the stance and the styling,” said Steve.

Tiger concludes: “For me, RANGER must have a powerful motor, large cargo capacity, smooth suspension, industry leading towing ability, and a comfortable yet functional interior. All these elements we have built into the RANGER XP® 1000.”

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Polaris Ranger Photo Competition

May 25, 2018/in magazine, Press Release/by Tony Hawkins

Polaris Ranger Photo Competition: For two decades, Polaris has provided class leading performance with their top selling utility vehicle, the RANGER®. 2018 marks the 20th anniversary of the iconic model, just a few months after the brand celebrated the one millionth RANGER® unit rolling off the production line.

To mark this key milestone in the brands history, Polaris is offering their customers the chance to win one of the ‘Ultimate RANGER® experiences’ on offer – a range of exclusive experiences, with the RANGER® vehicle at the heart.

To take part, customers are encouraged to visit the Polaris website at www.ranger20thanniversary.com, and simply upload a picture of their ‘RANGER® experience’ with a caption explaining their image for the chance to win. Entrants don’t even have to own their own RANGER®, they could have driven one of the vehicles at a Polaris event or taken a test ride.

The judging panel will include a representative from Polaris Industrial Design in the United States of America, who will be looking for entries which show an authentic, inspiring experience and excitement for the brand.

The Ultimate RANGER® Experiences available to win include:

Iceland – Enjoy the stunning landscape of the Icelandic mountains and see how the iconic RANGER® is customised and used by owners of lodges in the mountains to access their remote cabins.

Greece – Explore the Greek island of Naxos, the largest of the Cyclades island group, in a RANGER®. Take a trip around the mountain villages, tour the ancient ruins and soak up on the sun on the long stretches of beach. Save your energy and use the RANGER® to drive to Kasto, a hilltop castle dating back to the 13th century.

The competition opens for entries on May 15th 2018 and closes on July 1st 2018 – giving entrants plenty of time to get in their submissions. Winning entrants will be announced on 16th July, with the experiences taking place all the way through to March 2019. For full terms and conditions, visit the Polaris website.

Rodrigo Lourenco, Vice President and General Manager of Off-Road Vehicles EMEA, said: “We’re proud to be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the RANGER® model – a key vehicle in the vehicle line-up for Polaris. With its ability to be modified and adapted to master any environment and application, the RANGER® is extremely versatile and we look forward to hearing the RANGER® experiences from our owners.”

Forming a key part of the Polaris product line, the RANGER® is used globally for a variety of tasks. Its legacy continues to grow stronger year on year with new models being released along with a vast array of Polaris Engineered parts and accessories which allow owners to further adapt the already capable vehicle to its surroundings.