Polaris Industries Inc. will close the Fargo, N.D., offices and manufacturing plant of a company it recently bought and move the operations to its facilities in Medina and Wyoming, Minn., and Spirit Lake, Iowa.
Polaris said 80 people will be affected by the closing of Global Electric Motorcars (GEM) plant, which will be completed by the end of this year.
Polaris said in April it was buying GEM, a subsidiary of Chrysler Group that manufactures electric-powered low-speed vehicles. The transaction is expected to close this month.
Workers at the Fargo plant have been guaranteed jobs for at least 60 days after the deal closes, and an unspecified number have been offered jobs at Polaris' Spirit Lake manufacturing plant, product development facilities in Wyoming and corporate headquarters in Medina.
The deal to acquire GEM was one of two recent acquisitions by Polaris, known mostly for its off-road snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles, to bolster its on-road vehicle business. The company is also acquiring Kings Mountain, N.C.-based Indian Motorcycle, a deal that will add an iconic brand to Polaris' current line of Victory motorcycles. Polaris is also closing that company's operations, which have about 25 employees, and shifting Indian motorcycle production to the Spirit Lake plant.
Polaris' on-road segment accounted for just 4 percent of its $2 billion in revenue last year, but analysts have said that the new additions could make it bigger than the company's legacy snowmobile business within a few years.
Polaris already makes some electric off-road vehicles, mostly for farmers, hunters and the military. The company has said GEM's vehicles will put Polaris in a different market of commercial customers, such as hotels, airports and colleges that use them for shuttles. GEM has been producing the vehicles for about 13 years and to date has sold about 45,000 worldwide.
Susan Feyder 612-673-1723
