ARCTIC CAT Inc history spans back more than 40 years to date. The company is now one of the world’s largest manufacturers of ATV’s and snowmobiles and manufactures products which are used within the utility, leisure and racing markets. The origins of the company date back to the 1950’s, when company founder Edgar Hetten built the first snowmobiles. After testing these early machines for many years - and various technical advancements, in 1961 he created a snowmobile company in Minnesota. This initial company was founded later under the name "Polar Manufacturing", but was later changed to "Arctic Enterprises", and for the first time snowmobiles were called ARCTIC CATS. The following decades were characterised by technical advancements and constant growth. Today, ARCTIC CAT ranks among the most successful and largest manufacturers of snowmobiles in the world.

Compared to snowmobiles, ARCTIC CAT ATVs are rather young. In October 1995, ARCTIC CAT presented its first ATV in North Carolina, this model was the "Bearcat 440cc". The Bearcat rapidly established itself and ARCTIC CAT in the market, thanks mainly to some of its unique features such as large ground clearance and long spring travel. During the years that followed, ARCTIC CAT made constant and steady progress with new product releases and technical achievements. Today, ARCTIC CAT ranks among the most successful ATV manufacturers in the world.

The next chapter in this success story came during 2001, when ARCTIC CAT was encouraged to expand its operations more widely in Europe. The man behind this idea, Peter Preis,  founded the European branch of ARCTIC CAT at Bischofshofen, Austria. With a small team, he began to adapt standard ARCTIC CAT ATV’s for use on European roads. Under this adaptation, a number of alterations are made, but thanks to special engineering solutions relating to the braking and lighting systems, the company was successful in obtaining the general European street homologation for two models of the ARCTIC CAT brand. This was an important milestone in the short history of the company, and at the same time the catalyst which saw the overall European expansion. From this point in 2001, ARCTIC CAT AG witnessed rapid growth in terms of sales and its business infrastructure. In 2004 and due yet again to market demands, an additional production location was established at Altenmarkt im Pongau. Looking ahead from this point, ARCTIC CAT AG knew that they would eventually have to locate and occupy a much larger facility. Finally in 2005 the ideal building was found at St. Johann im Pongau, and since this date the offices, production and storage halls of ARCTIC CAT AG have been located on one site. As a conclusion to this history, In the second half of 2005 ARCTIC CAT AG became a 100 % subsidiary of ARCTIC CAT Inc, USA. Since the beginning of 2008, ARCTIC CAT is a limited liability company.