10 Compact Equipment NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2018
Polaris Engineers a Pair of UTVs to Endure the Abuse of Rental Applications
I
t was a secret mission. A select group of trade journal-
ists were invited to the Polaris Research and Devel-
opment facility in Minnesota, mercifully, during the
summer. Unbeknownst to us, we would become privy
to Polaris' next entry into the work utility vehicle
market — the PRO XD models. Polaris then promptly told
us the official debut for the PRO XDs would be in Decem-
ber, and we were to zip our collective lips till then. That
was especially difficult for
Compact Equipment, because
these new units fit our core mission of thoroughly cover-
ing commercial- and work-focused utility vehicles.
The rental market continues to attract specific utility
vehicles like the PRO XD models that boast increased du-
rability, easy serviceability and improved safety features.
For example, sensing this same opportunity, aerial lift
equipment expert JLG jumped into the UTV market in
2017 with the rental-focused three-seat 315G and six-seat
615G. Ironically, as big as the UTV rental market is, rental
houses will tell you that UTVs are often a loss category
machine because of constant maintenance headaches
from the abuse they endure. With extensive maintenance
intervals and short lifespans, rental UTVs have prohibi-
tively high total costs of ownership (TCO) and reduced
return on investment (ROI), commonly losing money af-
ter only three years.
"Rental industry providers were concerned with the fre-
quency of maintenance intervals and persistent vehicle
downtime that was dominating their current UTV fleets
and the resulting negative impact on their end custom-
ers," said Aaron Stegemann, director of sales, commercial
strategic accounts, at Polaris.
Polaris Commercial heard these woes and got to work
performing interviews, focus groups, branch visits and
other research to identify the true duty cycles of rental
TWO TOUGH RE
CE
News
Editor
AT LARGE
