No Change in Slingshot Status In CT – Yet

The future of the Slingshot in Connecticut remains unresolved following a Monday meeting between officials of the state Department of Motor Vehicles, Polaris Industries and Polaris dealers who are hoping to sell it. An effort is now underway by those pushing the state to allow the sale of the Slingshot to secure a demo model to demonstrate its roadworthiness to the decision-makers.

“Nothing definitive was decided today,” said Ernie Bertothy, state DMV spokesman. “We were presented information and now we have to go back and review it.”

Polaris Industries and its dealers are specifically trying to convince the DMV that the futuristic reverse trike (with two wheels in front and one in the rear) is a motorcycle. The state maintains it fails to meet the current definition and therefore cannot be sold here.

Damon Libby of Libby’s Motoworld in New Haven, one of four Polaris dealers at the morning meeting at DMV headquarters in Wethersfield, termed the gathering “very positive. It’s still up on the air but they were very positive.” He explained that he’s urging Polaris to quickly bring in a demo Slingshot for another get-together. The Slingshot has side-by-side seats in an open cockpit, a steering wheel and a stick shift located in a console between the two seats.

Polaris builds the Slingshot at a plant in Spirit Lake, Iowa using several parts that are made in Connecticut. The company maintains that it is a motorcycle and not an automobile because “it does not have airbags, it does not meet automotive safety standards,” according to fine print on the Slingshot website.

Libby said his takeaway after hearing from a DMV attorney at the meeting was that “someone behind the scenes is trying to keep this from going through. Who ‘they’ are nobody told us.” He said DMV Commissioner Melody A. Currey didn’t voice an opinion.

Libby and Currey were joined at the meeting by other DMV officials, Polaris representatives, and participants from Danbury Powersports, Shark Cycle in Stafford Springs and Advanced Powersports in Griswold.

“We’re losing sales, we’re losing revenue,” said Libby of the current situation. Polaris announced the Slingshot on July 27 and began shipping to dealers within the past two weeks, including dealers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Libby said his immediate goal is to get a demo Slingshot brought in. “I’m hopeful within two weeks,” he said. He’s also beginning to reach out to state legislators in case a bill is needed to modify the existing state statute that defines a motorcycle.

The statute defines a motorcycle as “a motor vehicle, with or without a side car, having not more than three wheels in contact with the ground and a saddle or seat on which the rider sits or a platform on which the rider stands.”

The base price of a Slingshot is $19,999 with the premium “SL” model going for $23,999. The Slingshot is powered by a 2,4-liter, 173-horsepower dual-overhead cam engine. It has a five-speed transmission, electronic stability and traction control, and ABS on all three wheels. It weighs in at less than 1,700 pounds.

Alinabal Inc. in Milford is the Connecticut company that is making components found in the Slingshot, inckuding stabilizing linkage, ball joints, outer tie rods and steering gear.

Polaris is based in Medina, Minn. and sells ATVs and snowmobiles. It also produces Victory and Indian motorcycles. The company is selling the Slingshot selling them through Polaris, Victory and Indian dealers across the country.

– By Bud Wilkinson