Organization and Significant Accounting Policies - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended							12 Months Ended										3 Months Ended			12 Months Ended
	Sep. 12, 2011	Sep. 30, 2011	Dec. 31, 2012 Entity	Dec. 31, 2011 Entity	Dec. 31, 2010 Entity	Dec. 31, 2012 Commodity Contract	Dec. 31, 2011 Commodity Contract	Dec. 31, 2012 Foreign currency contracts	Dec. 31, 2011 Foreign currency contracts	Dec. 31, 2012 Diesel Fuel	Dec. 31, 2011 Diesel Fuel	Dec. 31, 2012 Aluminum	Dec. 31, 2011 Aluminum	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum Building and Building Improvements	Dec. 31, 2012 Maximum Machinery Equipment And Production Tooling	Dec. 31, 2012 Minimum Building and Building Improvements	Dec. 31, 2012 Minimum Machinery Equipment And Production Tooling	Dec. 31, 2012 Polaris Acceptance	Sep. 30, 2010 KTM Power Sports AG Available-for-sale Securities	Jun. 30, 2010 KTM Power Sports AG Available-for-sale Securities	Mar. 31, 2009 KTM Power Sports AG Available-for-sale Securities	Dec. 31, 2010 KTM Power Sports AG Available-for-sale Securities	Dec. 31, 2012 ORVs	Dec. 31, 2012 Snowmobiles and Motorcycles	Dec. 31, 2012 SVs
Significant Accounting Policies [Line Items]
Stock split		2
Stock split descriptions	On September 12, 2011, Polaris shareholders received one additional share of Common Stock for each share they held of record at the close of business on September 2, 2011.
Variable interest entities requiring consolidation			0	0	0
Business acquisition aggregate purchase prices			$ 41,200,000
Name of acquired entity			Teton Outfitters, LLC
Business acquisition purchase price allocated to goodwill			11,061,000
Business acquisition purchase price allocated to identifiable intangible assets			19,600,000
Business acquisition purchase price allocated to tangible assets, net of liabilities			10,539,000
Business acquisition purchase price allocated to debt assumed			4,647,000
Equity method investment ownership percentage																			50.00%
Gain on securities available for sale					825,000																		825,000
Gain on available for sale securities																				1,594,000
Impairment charges on securities held for sale																					769,000	8,952,000
Cash equivalents maturity period														90 days
Property and equipment, estimated useful life															40 years	7 years	10 years	1 year
Research and development			127,361,000	105,631,000	84,940,000
Advertising expenses			58,752,000	48,877,000	40,833,000
Period of warranties provided by Polaris																								6 months	1 year	2 years
Standard product warranty description			Polaris provides a limited warranty for ORVs for a period of six months and for a period of one year for its snowmobiles and motorcycles and a two year period of SEVs. Polaris provides longer warranties in certain geographical markets as determined by local regulations and market conditions and may provide longer warranties related to certain promotional programs. Polaris' standard warranties require the Company or its dealers to repair or replace defective product during such warranty period at no cost to the consumer. The warranty reserve is established at the time of sale to the dealer or distributor based on management's best estimate using historical rates and trends
Sales promotions and incentives			107,008,000	81,228,000
Dealer holdback			86,733,000	76,512,000
Net accumulated other comprehensive income related to translation gains and losses, net gain			13,669,000	9,545,000
Fair value of commodity derivative contract			(2,741,000)	2,241,000		(124,000)	(1,337,000)
Unrealized gain (loss) of derivative instrument after tax			12,238,000	12,023,000				(1,431,000)	2,478,000
Pretax unrealized gain (loss) on diesel fuel and aluminum contracts										108,000	160,000	(232,000)	(1,497,000)
Fair value of foreign exchange contract			$ (2,617,000)	$ 3,578,000