BOMBARDIER
4 entries
The Canadian name behind the snowmobile: Joseph-Armand Bombardier built his first machine that “floats on snow” in 1935.
- Founder
- Joseph-Armand Bombardier
- First snowmobile
- 1935, Valcourt, Quebec
- Company founded
- 1942, as L’Auto-Neige Bombardier
- Recreational division
- Spun off as BRP, 2003
In January 1934 a blizzard stopped Joseph-Armand Bombardier from getting his two-year-old son to hospital in time, and he set out to build a vehicle that could “float on snow”. In 1935, in a repair shop in Valcourt, Quebec, he made the first snowmobile with a drive system of his own.
The company was founded in 1942 as L’Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée. In 2003 its recreational products division was spun off as BRP, maker of Ski-Doo and Lynx snowmobiles, Can-Am vehicles, Sea-Doo watercraft and Rotax engines.
- 1935First snowmobile built in Valcourt
- 1942L’Auto-Neige Bombardier founded
- 2003Recreational division spun off as BRP
