On these early days of March, the manufacturers have all announced their own snowmobile models for 2015. Here is a quick review of the highlights for the next season.
Engines
Arctic Cat offers the same engines except for a tiny difference regarding the 570 cc and the 500 cc, which is their new names. Effectively, the Suzuki 570 cc will be called «2000» and the Suzuki 500 cc will be called «4000».
Polaris offers the 800 Cleanfire with many improvements that provide much greater performance. The 600 Cleanfire engine has also been improved but the performance changes are more subtle. Also, according to Polaris, both engines are now more fuel- and oil-efficient while being more durable. We shall be able to validate this statement next season.
Ski-Doo offers the ACE 900 engine in many new models. The Rotax ACE 600 engine is now equipped with the iTC system, so it now offers 3 modes as the ACE 900 does. Also, for 2015, Ski-Doo has withdrawn the 550F engine as it was not needed anymore with the ACE engines.
Yamaha brings back the same engines for 2015. After this manufacturer promised to offer at least 2 new engines before 2018, we can now expect 2 new engines during the next 3 years. So, we must still be patient for a while.
Chassis
Arctic Cat offers a new version of their latest chassis, the ProTour. This chassis equips the new touring snowmobile generation : the Pantera. Lightweight and rigid, this chassis receives the 7000 engine in order to offer agility and power on trail. 
Polaris presents the new AXYS chassis on the Rush and Switchback models. This new platform allows much more lightweight models for 2015 than those of the past years. Weight can even be reduced by 17,2 kg (38 lbs). Polaris’ engineers have not been cutting corners since the Rush and Switchback models are built of 93 % new components.
Ski-Doo now offers the REV-XM chassis with T3 package that allows it to receive a track with 3” studs. The Summit X T3, offered with tunnel of 163” or 174”, is designed to face up to wide areas of deep snow. It is important to note that even with a 3” track, weight is not a problem. Effectively, efforts have been made to keep the Summit X T3 174 not heavier than the Summit X 163 and to keep the Summit X T3 163 at the same weight than the Summit X 154. So, the T3 package has the same weight, the same power, more flotation and a more aggressive track. We have the best of both worlds !
Ski-Doo also presents the X-RS package on the Renegade platform. This model should catch the attention during the coming months.
Yamaha introduces a mountain chassis built by Arctic Cat (ProClimb), allowing to offer a lineup of mountain snowmobiles that are lighter and easier to handle. The engine and pulleys calibration has been redesigned to add some punch to these models. If you want more power, the turbo package is also available at your dealer’s.
It will be interesting to see the snowmobilers’ interest in the M-TX models. Finally, the FX Nytro lineup will not be back for 2015.
Other modifications
Most of the other modifications announced at the manufacturers’ are designed to reinforce their respective snowmobile lineup. For example, Arctic Cat offers the 6000 and 7000 engines in much more models and Ski-Doo offers the Rotax ACE 900 engines in much more models.
For more details on the snowmobile lineups for 2015, please read the following articles :
- Launch of the 2015 Arctic Cat snowmobiles
- Polaris MY 2015 (Part 1)
- Launch of the 2015 Ski-Doo snowmobile lineup
- Launch of the 2015 Yamaha snowmobile lineup
I hope these informations will help you if you are currently shopping for a future snowmobile.
Have a great end of season !
