Jan. 24--An abundance of snow across large portions of North America isn't protecting Minnesota's premier makers of snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles from the economic downturn.

On Friday, both Polaris Industries Inc. and Arctic Cat Inc. announced job cuts.

Polaris, based in Medina, is cutting 460 jobs in response to weakening demand for its products, which also include motorcycles. The cuts at Minneapolis-based Arctic Cat total 100 jobs, with most of the reductions coming at company facilities in Thief River Falls, Minn.

"It is certainly not unexpected that the difficult business environment and uncertain economic situation are having an impact on our business, as well as the businesses of our dealers and suppliers," said Scott Wine, Polaris' CEO in a release. While it's a challenging time for the company, he said, the changes announced Friday "will better enable us to remain competitive in the future."

The cuts at Polaris include 160 salaried and hourly full-time positions and 300 contract, part-time and temporary positions spread across all product lines. The cuts are taking place at facilities worldwide, Polaris said.

The 160 job cuts of salaried and hourly jobs represent 5 percent of Polaris' 3,200 employees, the company said.

Polaris will report financial results for its fourth quarter and full-year 2008 on Thursday. Until then, the company isn't providing details on the slowdown in its product sales. The company's production run for snowmobiles

starts in May and usually is complete before Thanksgiving, said Marlys Knutson, a Polaris spokeswoman. "We have to have them made before the season starts," she said.

For the first nine months of 2008, Polaris' ATV sales were up 15 percent, and snowmobile sales were up 11 percent compared with the prior year. Sales of its Victory motorcycle line were down 7 percent, which mirrored softness in the slice of the motorcycle market -- cruising and touring cycles -- where the Victory brand is positioned.

In its last quarterly earnings in October, Polaris did show signs of some slowing, as its operating income was down about 7 percent for the quarter.

The 100 jobs being cut at Arctic Cat represent about 7 percent of that company's 1,400 employees.

"Aligning the size of our work force with sales volumes is a difficult step that we must take during this economic downturn," said Christopher Twomey, Arctic Cat's chairman and chief executive officer. The moves announced Friday brings production capacity and operating costs "in line with reduced customer demand," he said.

Arctic Cat's stock closed Friday down 30 cents, or 6 percent, at $4.63. That's 63 percent off the 52-week high. Polaris fell 38 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $21.50. Polaris shares are 60 percent off their peak for the past year.

John Welbes can be reached at 651-228-2175.

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