Segment Information (Details) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2018 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2017 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2018 USD ($) segment	Sep. 30, 2017 USD ($)
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	$ 1,651,415	$ 1,478,726	$ 4,451,420	$ 3,997,428
Number of Operating Segments \| segment			6
Gross profit	401,270	363,962	$ 1,109,927	956,839
Number of Reportable Segments \| segment			5
ORV/Snowmobiles
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	1,035,554		$ 2,858,959
Motorcycles
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	155,316		458,285
Global Adjacent Markets
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	96,251		322,996
Aftermarket
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	229,973		676,859
Boats
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	134,321		134,321
Operating segments \| ORV/Snowmobiles
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	1,035,554	1,007,392	2,858,959	2,577,003
Gross profit	290,631	296,904	831,413	776,013
Operating segments \| Motorcycles
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	155,316	155,059	458,285	473,345
Gross profit	19,577	10,354	60,817	11,589
Operating segments \| Global Adjacent Markets
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	96,251	91,575	322,996	280,152
Gross profit	24,155	15,983	83,520	65,297
Operating segments \| Aftermarket
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	229,973	224,700	676,859	666,928
Gross profit	66,092	63,239	182,291	164,721
Operating segments \| Boats
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Revenue	134,321	0	134,321	0
Gross profit	20,253	0	20,253	0
Corporate
Segment Reporting Information [Line Items]
Gross profit	$ (19,438)	$ (22,518)	$ (68,367)	$ (60,781)

Aggregate revenue less cost of goods and services sold or operating expenses directly attributable to the revenue generation activity.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 220
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-03.1,2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=115205541&loc=SL114868664-224227

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_GrossProfit
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number of operating segments. An operating segment is a component of an enterprise: (a) that engages in business activities from which it may earn revenues and incur expenses (including revenues and expenses relating to transactions with other components of the same enterprise), (b) whose operating results are regularly reviewed by the enterprise's chief operating decision maker to make decisions about resources to be allocated to the segment and assess its performance, and (c) for which discrete financial information is available. An operating segment may engage in business activities for which it has yet to earn revenues, for example, start-up operations may be operating segments before earning revenues.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_NumberOfOperatingSegments
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Number of segments reported by the entity. A reportable segment is a component of an entity for which there is an accounting requirement to report separate financial information on that component in the entity's financial statements.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_NumberOfReportableSegments
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount, excluding tax collected from customer, of revenue from satisfaction of performance obligation by transferring promised good or service to customer. Tax collected from customer is tax assessed by governmental authority that is both imposed on and concurrent with specific revenue-producing transaction, including, but not limited to, sales, use, value added and excise.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109196051&loc=SL49130543-203045

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109196051&loc=SL49130539-203045

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109196051&loc=SL49130545-203045

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_SegmentReportingInformationLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=pii_OffRoadVehiclesSnowmobilesSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=pii_MotorcyclesSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=pii_GlobalAdjacentMarketsSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=pii_AftermarketSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=pii_BoatsSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_ConsolidationItemsAxis=us-gaap_OperatingSegmentsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_ConsolidationItemsAxis=us-gaap_CorporateNonSegmentMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: