Off-road giant Polaris has announced it is withdrawing its ATV quad bike range from the Australian market.
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Polaris has announced it is withdrawing its ATV quad bike range from the Australian market
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All Polaris ATVs will cease to be sold in Australia from October 2020, when stage one of the new Consumer Goods Safety Standard 2019 takes effect.
Stage one will be implemented from October 11, 2020 and stage two from the October 11, 2021. Polaris currently holds the required US and European ATV quad bike standards, but has deemed the process of complying with the new Australian standards as “unviable” in the context of the rapidly reducing size of the ATV market.
Polaris had previously committed to withdrawing its ATV (quad bikes) from the market by October 2021 when operator protection devices (OPDs) become mandatory. Polaris has been a staunch opponent to the fitting OPDs due to the “lack of reliable science or evidence to support the safety claims made of such devices, and the fact that research indicates these devices will likely cause as many injuries as they prevent”, the company says.
Polaris and its dealer network have begun stock clearance processes of its ATVs (quad bikes) ahead of the October 2020 deadline.
Polaris will instead focus on the 30 models with properly engineered rollover protection structure (ROPS) it already offers in the Australian market.
In a statement, Polaris Australia managing director Alan Collins says the Australian market has seen substantial change in the ATV market.
“Over recent years the Australian off-road vehicle market has experienced record levels of transference as farmers transition en masse from quad bikes to side by side vehicles,” he says.
“Polaris has led this transition with its industry-leading range of 30 vehicles with ROPS, and the market shift has been helped along in no small part by the safety rebates offered by SafeWork NSW and WorkSafe Victoria.
“Considering the vast contraction of the quad bike market over the past five years as customers flock to side by side vehicles with properly engineered ROPS and factory integrated safety technologies, Polaris maintains its view that the market itself would end up signalling the end for quad bikes over coming years anyway through sheer lack of demand driven by the availability, benefits and range of side by side vehicles.
“Polaris has publicly stated numerous times that we believed within 24 months the quad bike market would be minimal at best, as the market shift away from ATVs (quad bikes) and towards side by side products was in full force long before any government mandates or safety standards were enacted – obviously this shift will now accelerate even further over the coming two years as the Consumer Goods (Quad Bikes) Safety Standard 2019 takes effect.”
As its ATV exit nears, Polaris will now focus its gaze on its well-known side by side range. Polaris will continue to offer its ROPS-equipped youth range, comprising the single-seat ACE 150, sporty RZR 170 and Ranger 150, which is equipped with app-based speed control and geo-fencing.
Full Polaris ATV product support and warranty will continue in Australia for at least the next decade.