Bobcat to discontinue Tractors?

[wallace]

I bought my Kioti from Wallace in 2008- he left Kioti-or Kioti left him in 2010- and he went to BobCat. I wonder where that leaves him. I know he diversified to other products and has been busy according to his posts. I hope he does well, but I am still annoyed that he could not arrange to stay with Kioti. I am sure there are going to be a lot of BobCat CUT owners PO'd as well. Now they have to go with hat in hand to the nearest Kioti dealer for help.

It leaves me selling other color tractors as well as the million other things we do. Can I say I was happy to hear this? NO but the tractor business has drastically change over the years, thats one of the reasons why we pushed forward with other avenues in our business.
I think you are going to see the compact tractor industry change. A REALLY BIG CHANGE.
People do not realize what TIER 4 emission is going to do to a tractor. The biggest factor is going to be the cost, you wll see a compact tractor jump $2-5,000 in cost just to be emission compliant. Thats not including the anual price increases.
The 30 hp compact tractor with a loader that you were able to buy for 17k is now going to be a easy 20k price tag.

As for the Bobcat CUE owners, they should have no fear of anything. All Bobcat tractors will be taken care of by Bobcat dealers. Bobcat said their CUE dealers will have access for parts and warranty thru the end of 2015. Then all parts and warranty will be handeled through their full line dealers.

Gil thank you for your past business. The Kioti thing, well lets just say the people that pushed us out no long work their and we were not the only dealers that were wrongfully terminated.
I never lost faith in the Daedong product nor should anyone out there.
I am a proud owner of several of their products.

 

[joshuabardwell]

I think you are going to see the compact tractor industry change. A REALLY BIG CHANGE.
People do not realize what TIER 4 emission is going to do to a tractor. The biggest factor is going to be the cost, you wll see a compact tractor jump $2-5,000 in cost just to be emission compliant. Thats not including the anual price increases.
The 30 hp compact tractor with a loader that you were able to buy for 17k is now going to be a easy 20k price tag.

This is an interesting proposition, Wallace. The CUT market has really blown up lately, with a lot of people who would have bought small garden tractors or riding mowers, or even zero-turns, instead going up to a CUT or SCUT with a loader and a full cat-1 3ph. I wonder if the extra $3-5k is going to deflate that some. Heck! I wonder if we'll see a push toward gasoline engines in small tractors. Is it easier to make them emission-compliant than diesels because gasoline burns cleaner? Or is it just that I'm so used to the price of emission compliance being baked into gas engines that I don't notice?

 

[EHR]

Maybe Wallace could/should return to the Orange version. I think the smaller CUT's would do fine with a gas engine, the supply of them is very broad so cost would would be less. Most owners do not put alot of hours on unless they mow.

 

[Gil Case]

I want to clarify some things, I bought a Kioti from Wallace because he had the best price, was easiest to deal with and he took a trade in. I tried to deal with a dealer 10 miles form me in CT, (Wallace is 90 mi) but he was none of the above, plus (this is just between us now) CT sales tax would have added $1250 to the end price. I was annoyed when Rick and Kioti parted ways, because I assumed that I would eventually have to have some warranty work done and I would have to go to the Pita in CT for the work. He would see the Wallace stickers all over the tractor (which I proudly display) and stick it to me on repair work. Well none of that has happened because the 2008 is now four years old and has never needed any repair work, I did the oil changes and greasing. So I am extremely happy with Kioti and Wallace (I follow he and Amy and kids on facebook). So I think Wallace and family are one of the best dealers in the country, my annoyance was based on future imagined "aggravation" that never occurred. I would lug my tractor 90 miles to Wallace for repairs if he was still a Kioti dealer. I may lug it there even if is not a dealer-IF it ever needs repair.

 

[crashz]

I was recently at my Bobcat dealer looking at the tractors and getting prices. With two tractors on the lot that I was interested in, the dealer had no interest in selling. They quoted list price, with no room to negotiate and I had to bring up the current incentives. In fact the sales manager urged me to look into a used skid steer which he had none on the lot. He referred me to a gentleman who sells all of their wholesale used equipment.

I'm now the proud owner of a gently used 753!

 

[94BULLITT]

I was recently at my Bobcat dealer looking at the tractors and getting prices. With two tractors on the lot that I was interested in, the dealer had no interest in selling. They quoted list price, with no room to negotiate and I had to bring up the current incentives. In fact the sales manager urged me to look into a used skid steer which he had none on the lot. He referred me to a gentleman who sells all of their wholesale used equipment.

I'm now the proud owner of a gently used 753!

I think alot of dealers could have cared less about selling the Bobcat tractors.

 

[catdozer]

I think alot of dealers could have cared less about selling the Bobcat tractors.

Yep have to agree, my dealer loved the tractor line. But just like our local caterpillar dealer. Big into agriculture and does not like handling the construction line.

 

[kiotiken]

... I think you are going to see the compact tractor industry change. A REALLY BIG CHANGE.
People do not realize what TIER 4 emission is going to do to a tractor. The biggest factor is going to be the cost, you wll see a compact tractor jump $2-5,000 in cost just to be emission compliant. Thats not including the anual price increases...

Rick, I'm interested in the kind of change you see coming. Are you thinking mostly in cost due to new regs., manufactures not making it or the sizes and number of tractors offered in the future.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

Rick, I'm interested in the kind of change you see coming. Are you thinking mostly in cost due to new regs., manufactures not making it or the sizes and number of tractors offered in the future.

size and number of models will be cut way down, we're already seeing that. Sales will probably dip due to the cost and people being scared of new tech. Its going to be harder for the small companies to stay in business with shrinking volume. We're going to get hit in the same way the over the road truck business has... its not pretty.

 

[afoster]

I'm really hoping that Bobcat will live up to its commitment to support these tractors with parts and service in the future. For with out their support I'm faced with trying to get parts from a Kioti dealer that over a 1,000 miles away which could create a whole other series of problems and costs for me.
I'm quite happy with my CT335 and was actually considering moving up to a larger model in the future, but I guess that will not happen now. Still surprised that Bobcat has not sent out any notice to existing owners of the tractors regarding them dropping the tractor line and what their commitment is to supporting existing warranties.