Polaris Watercraft Announces International Distribution Agreement With Mercury Marine
MINNEAPOLIS--Feb. 3, 2003--Polaris Industries and Mercury Marine, a division of Brunswick Corporation , announce a distribution agreement for selling Polaris Watercraft through select Mercury Marine branch operations in Asia and Latin America, including Japan, China, Brazil, and other markets. Mercury Marine has more than 300 dealers in these regions, which will help increase sales and exposure for the Polaris Watercraft brand, as well as allow Mercury Marine to provide quality personal watercraft products to consumers.
"There is considerable synergy between Polaris and Mercury Marine," says Ron Bills, general manager for the Polaris Watercraft Division. "This new distribution agreement combines two strong U.S. companies with expertise in recreational boats."
While Polaris Watercraft is moving toward distributing watercraft at Mercury Marine locations in these international markets, no changes will be made to its U.S. distribution process, which is comprised of an independent dealer network.
Theo Wiggill, president of international for Mercury Marine, says, "The distribution arrangements with Polaris will continue to build on our successful one-stop shop marine focus in selected international markets. Further, Mercury continues to seek opportunities to provide its international distributors and dealers with additional revenue and profit potential."
"We created this distribution agreement to help increase our distribution and exposure in select Asian and Latin American markets," says Paul Petani, international sales manager at Polaris. "We are very pleased and excited to appoint Mercury as our personal watercraft distributor in these markets, they are getting a great product line and Polaris is getting a great dealer network."
Polaris Industries, a leader in watercraft innovations, recently introduced a powerful new line of personal watercraft - the MSX. The addition of this new model has increased the visibility of the company's brand in the personal watercraft industry, as well as increased the focus on marketing efforts for the Polaris Watercraft brand.
About Polaris Industries:
Information about the complete line of Polaris products is available from authorized Polaris dealers or from the Polaris homepage at polarisindustries.com.
Polaris designs, engineers, manufactures and markets snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, personal watercraft, Victory motorcycles and the Polaris RANGER for recreational and utility use. The Polaris Professional Series, a line of heavy duty Workmobiles(TM) targeted at lawn and landscape companies, equipment rental companies and construction operations, marks Polaris' expansion into the commercial equipment marketplace.
With annual 2001 sales of $1.5 billion, Polaris is the largest snowmobile manufacturer in the world and one of the largest U.S. manufacturers of ATVs and personal watercraft; while Victory motorcycles represent the first all-new American-made motorcycle in nearly 60 years. Polaris also enhances the riding experience with a complete line of Pure Polaris apparel, accessories and parts, available at Polaris dealerships. Consumers can also purchase apparel and vehicle accessories anytime at www.purepolaris.com
Polaris Industries Inc. trades on the New York Stock Exchange and Pacific Stock Exchange under the symbol "PII," and the company is included in the S&P Small-Cap 600 stock price index.
About Mercury Marine:
Mercury Marine is a division of Brunswick Corporation . Headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., Brunswick Corporation is a manufacturer and marketer of leading consumer brands including Mercury and Mariner outboard engines; Mercury MerCruiser sterndrives and inboard engines; Sea Ray, Bayliner, Maxum, Hatteras, Meridian and Sealine pleasure boats; Baja high-performance boats; Boston Whaler and Trophy offshore fishing boats; Princecraft fishing, deck and pontoon boats; Life Fitness, Hammer Strength and ParaBody fitness equipment; Brunswick bowling centers, equipment and consumer products; and Brunswick billiards tables.