Is there a "pink" Polaris sled in your future? This "doctored" image of Polaris' IQ racer suggests what a "Barbie Pink" Polaris might look like.

And what's all this talk of "pink" sleds? Recently Polaris marketeers announced the creation of "girlie" ATVs decked out in feminine pink accents. According to Polaris its research discovered that girls enjoy the world of powersports as well as guys.

Harley-Davidson recognized this same fact with its motorcycles in the past few years. Any biker guy knows well that biker babes are no longer satisfied to ride on the passenger seat. They want control. Harley has answered that call -- But quite a bit differently than Polaris.

While recognizing gals want their own motorcycles, Harley did not just add pink as a color choice. The Motorcycle Company took a hard look at what its female customers wanted and CHANGED its product to accommodate the customer. Female riders wanted lower seat heights, easier pull clutch levers, and other female friendly features. We doubt you'll find a "Barbie Bike" in the Harley line.

But, Polaris, basing its decisions on similar factoids have come up with pink as the selling point for girls. Are they making its ATVs more femme-friendly? Do they offer power steering? Easy-reach controls and footrests? Are these new Barbie quads just colored pink or do they offer female-friendly features? If not, Polaris may find that this marketing ploy will be seen as a condescending, male-chauvinist insult to its female customers. Is there a pink camouflage ATV in the future for female hunters?

As for female sledders, lady riders are going to want more than pink. They will want easy-starting, lighter weight models with nimble-handling, easy steering, female-friendly controls, etc. Girls want friendly features first. Girls just want to have fun. And pink probably isn't it.

This marketing ploy underscores why Polaris currently finds itself an also-ran in the sled biz. That must have been some intersting staff meeting when it was decided to push pink ATVs. What female focus group did they base this on? But equally puzzling was the response of some stock analysts who caused Polaris stock to immediately go up in value. If this is the level of expertise we can all expect from stock market experts, out 401s are doomed! Yes, recognizing growth in female participation in powersports is excellent. How about recognizing how to tap into it in a solid, long term manner?

For a company that seems to rely heavily on MBA educations, maybe the company would be better served to get back to basics. This is a company that became #1 in snowmobiles by building quality products that it sold at very fair prices. This is a company that reacted to what its customers wanted. For those that can recall it, Polaris thought its customers wanted the cheaper-to-produce Cutlass models. When Polaris buyers opted for the more expensive Indy models, Polaris accepted that decision and profitted. When the trailing arm Indys became obsolete, instead of leading the Polaris faithful to the IQ and its A-arm design suspension, marketeers "bad-mouthed" that concept. Right out of the chute at product launch, Polaris had to overcome its own negative campaign against the IQ suspension as it did an immediate about face telling its faithful buyers that the new A-arm was the best thing in snowmobiling. Huh!

This company has 50 years of experience in Roseau but doesn't seem to trust its heritage to lead its future. While CAD and CAM design programs can assist in engineering concepts, it takes real-world experience (which Polaris has in spades) to know what works and what doesn't in the snow world. Computers can only spit out what's programmed into them. Stupid in. Stupid out. The Fusion 900 was stupid out and Polaris will be paying for that mistake for some time in all kinds of ways.

Maybe, maybe we're totally wrong and Polaris will be in the "pink" with its new concepts. But the Minnesota company would do well to look at what a certain Wisconsin company has done when studying similar facts.