Features

Polaris acquires electric vehicle brand

Polaris Industries Inc. announced an agreement to acquire electric-powered vehicle manufacturer Global Electric Motorcars LLC, a wholly owned, Fargo, N.D.-based subsidiary of Chrysler Group LLC.

GEM, established in 1998, has placed over 45,000 electric-powered vehicles on the road worldwide. It had about $30 million in sales during the 2010 calendar year. The brand also has developed business-to-business sales with fleet and government vehicles.

“GEM provides Polaris with an established position in the low-emission small vehicle market and supports Polaris’ strategy of penetrating on-road market segments poised for growth,” Polaris CEO Scott Wine said in a press release. “We are excited about the outlook for growth within this market space, and are looking forward to developing even stronger growth prospects for the GEM business.”

The acquisition will officially close within the next 60 days. Polaris still needs to secure the required state sales certifications to sell GEM products. In the interim, GEM operations will proceed as normal as Polaris learns the GEM business. Following the close of the acquisition, Polaris will be positioned to outline plans for the GEM business.

“Our vision is to accelerate profitable sales growth for GEM, by combining Polaris’ strength in new product innovation with the most-recognized brand in the low speed vehicle market space,” Mike Jonikas, Polaris’ vice president of the On-Road Vehicle Division, said in the release. “These new product efforts for GEM will be supported by an expanded distribution presence within select domestic and international markets.”

  • For more of the latest news, click here.
  • To see the contents of the current print issue of PSB, click here.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button