To: Jim Johnson who wrote (3018 ) 10/1/1998 9:13:00 PM From: flightlessbird Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 4230
I pulled this off of Yahoo re: Polaris - JAWS relationship . . . This was from a phone call an individual had with a Polaris rep. This information I believe was run by Scott Sitra first. Enjoy. I just got off the phone with Polaris. They are extremely happy with their relationship with Great White. One comment that stood out in the whole conversation was the Great White has "Booked a lot of Orders" with them. They are very pleased. Polaris is the reason that Great White expanded in the Pompano Beach area. They were very clear to express that they did not want Great White Distributing Product to the Carribean, South America, and Latin America, from their Waco Location. The expanded distribution areas are as follows : All of the Carribean except for Puerto Rico. This includes the Bahamas and the French Antilles. The old distributorship agreements in that area have now been cancelled and taken over by Great White. Polaris stated that they were looking for an organization with deep pockets and that the old distributorships werent moving enough product. This is where they felt Great White would perform the best. As for South America, Great White does not have the official distribution rights to South America at this time. They do have the unofficial right to deal Polaris products in parts of South America (Peru, Equador, Columbia, Brazil {PWC only in Brazil}). It was mentioned that Polaris would be very interested in expanding Great Whites region of distributorship to most of South America, but they want to take one step at a time. They did not want to overwhelm Great White by giving them too much at one time. Remember, Great White is limited right now based on their extremely fast growth. They need to staff up as they go along. Polaris wants to be sure that they can handle their current growth before extending them further. This is very smart business. As for Central America, Great White has all of Central America except for Panama and Costa Rica. Polaris currently has distributors in that area. It was stated that Polaris would be interested in folding those areas into Great White's Region of distribution in mid 1999. Time will tell. I inquired into Brazil with respect to Polaris' desire to establish a subassembly plant there (in order to avoid high tariffs). I was told that Great White was very interested in taking that Project on and was told by Polaris, one step at a time. Great White definitely is being looked upon favorably at this time to handle that area. Remember, Brazil is the third largest PWC market in the world. Polaris is watching Great White very favorably. They are currently considering expanding their territories even further. Where these extensions were would not be discussed at this time. As for the Victory Motorcycle. Polaris will not be distributing the Victory outside of the US, Canada, and Europe until the year 2000. At that time, as long as Great White continues their current performance, and are able to establish a strong network of dealers in their regions, then they would definitely be given the nod to distribute further. As for Advertisement expenses, Polaris has a written agreement with all of its distributors to assist them in their advertisement expense with respect to selling Polaris vehicles. It works like this. Polaris matches a maximum of 3% of revenues generated. Much like a 401K matching program. For example, if JAWS sells 100,000 worth of product and invests upto 3,000 in advertising, then Polaris will match them with 3,000 to assist. Along these lines, Polaris will be in the boat show in Puerto Vallerta assisting Great White in the advertisement of their product line.