The New BRUTUS Line of Commercial UTVs from Polaris
Polaris Industries has introduced their BRUTUS line of utility vehicles for the commercial work segment. Their first purpose-built commercial vehicle line offers front-end power take-off capability. The product line includes the BRUTUS, BRUTUS HD and BRUTUS HDPTO models with MSRPs of $15,999, $17,999 and $23,999 respectively. Developed as part of their partnership with Bobcat, Polaris will manufacturer the vehicles while Bobcat will provide an assortment of attachments. Key features of the vehicles include:
- 24 hp diesel engine
- Front-end power take-off option powered by the vehicle’s engine
- Hydrostatic transmission
- Treadle pedal that allows travel in forward or reverse without shifting gears
- 6 inch of suspension travel
- On-Demand True All-Wheel Drive
- 1,250 pound cargo capacity and 2,000 lb towing capacity
- Pro-Tach attachment system for the HD and HDPTO models
- PTO powered attachments: angle broom, finishing mower and snow blower and hydraulically-powered attachments: snow blade, pallet forks and materials bucket
- Enclosed cab with heat, defrost and AC is standard on the HDPTO
Polaris will sell the vehicles through their existing dealership network and start shipping the vehicles in April 2013. Learn more: Greenindustrypros.com and Polaris.com/Commercial
Comment: This new line introduction is more evidence of the continuing trend in the STOV market of product diversification by many of the manufacturers. Polaris is a prime example, from their strength in the recreational and general work UTV markets they have expanded into more focused commercial segments with their Bobcat alliance and into electric utility vehicles and personal transportation segments with their acquisition of GEM. Golf car manufacturers have also done the same from their fleet golf car base into heavier duty off-road UTVs and into the LSV markets. The challenge these companies face is developing a distribution network for these new product lines. Typically their traditional dealer networks do not reach or only partially reach the customer base in the segments they are newly targeting. In addition, the sales process may be different such as selling UTVs to colleges and universities compared to selling to a retail customer.