Back in 1937 Joseph-Armand Bombardier got his first patent for the vehicle for travelling on snow. B7 snowmobile was the beginning of an exciting business and outdoor adventure.
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It took five years for Mr. Bombardier to start up l’Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée in Valcourt, Quebec, the company that will build tracked vehicles founded on his patent. The company grew slowly but steady and just five years later it sets up a 1,000-unit production plant. After the end of the Second World War, B12 and C18 tracked vehicles ensured the health of the business.
The innovation and research continued over the next years and the company expanded its production lines with the production of the SW snow groomer and Muskeg utility vehicles for the forestry, mining and utilities industries. However, snowmobiles were the central part of the business and Mr. Bombardier intensifies his research on the small snowmobile he has been dreaming of for decades.
In the year of 1959 the new Ski-Doo snowmobile is presented and at that year a new, exciting, adventurous sport has been born. While amateurs and professional athletes enjoyed on the white fields, the company continued to work and better and better models. With the modifications and improvements of the Ski-Doo snowmobile, the company sells snowmobiles worldwide and in 1969 Bombardier's stocks are listed on the Montreal and Toronto Stock Exchanges.
Then the company started to grow with the acquisition of the Austrian company Lohnerwerke and its subsidiary Rotax-Werk, manufacturers of Rotax engines. As the company continues to grow, the core business was never abandoned. The company launched the new Skidozer 250 for grooming ski slopes, and the Elan, Skandic, Valmont and Blizzard Ski-Doo models.
Following the rules from the books about management, the company works closely with snowmobiling clubs find out what the customers really need. The technology, safety features, look and comfort of Ski-Doo snowmobiles have improved and that culminated in 1988 when Bombardier becomes the official supplier of grooming vehicles and snowmobiles for the Calgary Olympic Winter Games. This year Bombardier Recreational Products or BRP celebrated 50th anniversary together with more than 1,300 BRP dealers, distributors and employees from Canada, the United States, Russia, Iceland and Slovenia.
As is often the case, the big and successful industry grew following the dream of a young man who was thinking about the machine nobody ever imagined. Thanks to Joseph-Armand Bombardier thousand of snow fans today enjoy in speed on the white fields. ■
A Fall heatwave will continue into the weekend over portions of the Desert Southwest and central/southern California as a persistent trend of upper-ridging over the region remains in place.