The main directions of development of domestic snowmobiles

In recent years, Russia has begun an active economic development of the Arctic zone, including the extraction of hydrocarbons, as well as the development of the Northern Sea Route. Russia has a maximum length of borders in the Arctic, which is almost half of the Arctic coast. Due to the lack of paved roads, more than 10 percent of the population (15 million people) remain cut off from transport communications during the spring and autumn periods. So far, 39 thousand settlements with a total population of up to 2 million inhabitants (including 7,5 percent of the total number of district centers and 6,7 percent of the central estates of agricultural organizations) do not have a connection to the country's transport network by road hard coating. In this regard, snowmobile motorcycles occupy a well-defined niche among all-terrain vehicles operated in the Far North, the Arctic and the Far East, and allows to successfully solve important transport problems. Along with affordability, mobility, ease of operation, maintainability, snowmobile vehicles also has good indicators of specific carrying capacity. Currently, the production of domestic snowmobiles is made in many Russian companies. The article presents an analysis of domestic snowmobile engineering. The results of marketing research of the snowmobile market in Russia is analyzed. The dynamics of the production of snowmobiles of leading domestic manufacturers for 2014-2016 was considered. The main classes of domestic snowmobiles are considered, their comparative assessment is given. The distinctive design features of snowmobiles from the point of view of consumer qualities are given. The main directions of development of domestic snowmobiles of the tourist, utilitarian and children's classes are presented. The ways to improve their technical characteristics and consumer properties are proposed. New models of domestic snowmobiles of 2018 are analyzed.