kiotiken
Veteran Member
the whole reason I went "white" in the first place, three dealers within 20 miles and at that time not a SINGLE Kioti dealer in WI, now that has changed but they are still 90 miles away....most run out of car dealers or hardware shops with no history of tractors
That bothers me when I see that. I'm lucky enough to have 3 "real" Kioti dealers in my area but I have also seen them sold from a small hardware store, well, they had one tractor anyway. That's just wrong, I have no idea why Kioti would agree to that, there can't be any winners in the long run and it cheapens the brand. In fact, I think that's what Kiotis problem really is, they're not working hard enough to establish a recognizable, trusted brand. The marketing I've seen looks like it was done by high school students, their web site and brochures are incredibly inaccurate and they've pulled big bone headed moves like firing dealers who didn't buy at least 350K of inventory (from what I've heard on TBN anyway). Should Kioti be considered equal or better than Kubota, JD etc, yes, I think the product competes with or is better than many other colours, will they ever be considered equal or better, not unless they change their ways and put some serious time and money into building the brand.
Had I bought white instead of orange, my only concern today would be if I wanted to trade or sell it. On the other hand, Bobcat is still a recognized name brand with a good reputation, so newbie tractor people would probably still be fine with it, and dealers and experienced owners know that it's made by Daedong and is a white Kioti wont be scared off either. I think resale value might take a bit of a hit, but not that bad. The whole worry about parts is a non issue in my mind. They will be available through Bobcat for a long time, and if they jack up the price on them, they'll be available through Kioti. Either dealer should be able to fix them, if not an independent shop shouldn't have any issue with them either.
There's not a single Bobcat tractor owner who's tractor is over 5 years old, so unless you've been meaning to trade for a bigger/smaller tractor, just keep maintaining it, sit back and enjoy the next 15-30 years of using it. With the price of tractors by then, you'll still get more back for it than you bought it for.