Comparison LS vs Mahindra vs Kubota

[Illini22]

The dealership I bought my kioti from is now a kubota dealership. I almost take that as a compliment. They sell a lot of equipment (besides kubota). The salesmen told me that kubota wouldn't let them sell both lines. One way to try and kill the competition, just buy them.
I don't blame the dealership because kubota is a better known name, but it also tells me kubota isn't going to stand idle and let kioti grow.

 

[murphy1244]

Could be what I found when looking at tractors: "Don's used cars and Kioti tractors". "Yeah, Don'll be back after he's done signing the title paperwork on that there Dodge. Oh, and he's stopping by the bank to deposit a check. Shouldn't be more than an hour or so. No, honey, I don't know anything about the tractors. Yeah, Jimbo does our service but he only comes in on Wednesdays and Saturdays. No, we don't have price lists, but Don can tell you when he gets back. JOSE! GET BACK IN THAT CLOSET! Yeah, what's a pallet fork? We don't have none of those."

etc., etc., etc.

I'm not quite capturing the essence of the dealerships, but you might be getting the idea.

Totally, totally different from the Kubota dealers I've visited, which are either like a JD dealer (competent and ridiculously expensive) ("Yes, we charge MSRP + our monthly boat payment, take it or leave it"), or competent, highly knowledgeable, product focused, and fiercely competitive.

I think the poorly vetted, poorly trained, and poorly capitalized dealer network of some "second tier" brands are the biggest obstacle to growth of those brands.

What are the names of these dealers?

 

[Bluegill2]

These other brands are chasing Kubota, or following. They 'Have' to try and offer more features at lower prices to stay in business. Nothing wrong with this, just the way it is. They are all good tractors.

I first heard of Kubota around 1980 when I started needing a tractor, bought one in 83. First heard of Mahindra about 8 years ago when a local small dealer started sellin em. Had never heard of LS until I started reading here less than two years ago.

It's nice to be able to get parts for our old L3750 from the late 80s'.

 

[LD1]

And the point is?

No point really, just saying.

Since the 60's or 70's, it seems tractor MFG's dont last and are gobbling eachother up. Look at AGCO for example. Oliver, MM, Cockshutt, White, Allis, MF, etc.

Or CNH, Case, Ford, New Holland, Farmall, International, etc...

Not saying it makes them better, but kubota does seem to be the one different one. John Deere has kept the same name, but they dont make their own tractors in the smaller sizes.

Again, Not saying it makes Kubota a better tractor, just different.

 

[arrow]

No point really, just saying.

Since the 60's or 70's, it seems tractor MFG's dont last and are gobbling eachother up. Look at AGCO for example. Oliver, MM, Cockshutt, White, Allis, MF, etc.

Or CNH, Case, Ford, New Holland, Farmall, International, etc...

Not saying it makes them better, but kubota does seem to be the one different one. John Deere has kept the same name, but they dont make their own tractors in the smaller sizes.

Again, Not saying it makes Kubota a better tractor, just different.

I think it makes them a better tractor in the sense that you can get parts for a 1975 Kubota or I believe you can for any tractor they ever made. Not so with many companies such as JD and Ford who used foreign companies to build their compact tractors to speck such as Yanmar, Shibaura, Iseki, etc. You can get parts for a true JD tractor that are over 60 years old but heaven forbid if something major goes wrong with their 50 series tractors from the 80's. I'd keep my 750 if I was not worried about company support. What I have busted on this tractor in the past is no longer available. If I were a young man thinking about buying a tractor that I'd want to keep forever, I'd buy nothing but a Kubota or Kioti. I'm replacing the JD with a Mahindra (Mitsubishi) only because it is what i can afford and I'll be dead before the Mahindra becomes obsolete.

 

[rider0]

What are the names of these dealers?

I don't want to besmirch or impugn the name or reputation of any dealership with a post on this forum.

On the flip side, I will say that Apex Hesperia Rentals is an outstanding dealership that sells Kubotas.

 

[joe t]

I think it makes them a better tractor in the sense that you can get parts for a 1975 Kubota or I believe you can for any tractor they ever made. Not so with many companies such as JD and Ford who used foreign companies to build their compact tractors to speck such as Yanmar, Shibaura, Iseki, etc. You can get parts for a true JD tractor that are over 60 years old but heaven forbid if something major goes wrong with their 50 series tractors from the 80's. I'd keep my 750 if I was not worried about company support. What I have busted on this tractor in the past is no longer available. If I were a young man thinking about buying a tractor that I'd want to keep forever, I'd buy nothing but a Kubota or Kioti. I'm replacing the JD with a Mahindra (Mitsubishi) only because it is what i can afford and I'll be dead before the Mahindra becomes obsolete.

I'm not exactly a young 30, but why a Kioti?

 

[GManBart]

I am actually referring to the LS corporation. Their history is so complex it is hard to follow including name changes and multiple acquisitions over time.


Not saying it is a bad tractor but I'd prefer to have a 'New Holland' LS tractor just for dealer support.

New Holland dealers have said they would even do warranty work on LS tractors, if LS approved it. In similar fashion, you can walk into any NH dealer and buy parts for any of the models that are sold by both companies, and the same would be true of Case/IH. In reality, you have three sources of identical parts. All you'd really need to do to make it foolproof is get a NH or Case/IH parts manual for the model matching the LS, and you'd be set almost indefinitely. On top if that, the Mitsubishi engines LS uses are in many other machines, so the idea parts won't be available is extremely unlikely.

A Boomer 50 was quoted at $8,500 more than my LS R4047H.....I could buy a spare if almost everything on the tractor likely to ever break for the difference in price.

Want to see a complicated company history? Go Wiki Case, NH, International, McCormick, and Farmall....ugh! :shocked:

 

[arrow]

I'm not exactly a young 30, but why a Kioti?

They are a company that has made their own brand (Daedong) for a while . I'm thinking their parts network runs pretty deep as a result and you can get parts for older tractors. If you are the type of person who likes to keep things until they break in half, those two companies are a good bet. I bought this Yanmar John Deere because it was John Deere thinking that and surprise ,surprise.

 

[hodge]

My local Kioti dealer keeps 4 or 5 tractors on the lot. My local Mahindra dealer stopped selling Manhindra's. Before that, he tried to sell Farmtrac. Before that, Taft. Now he sells Dixie Choppers and Rhino implements. My local Kubota dealer, which has probably 100 tractors on the lot, have 3 LS's. They sold them for a while, stopped, and now have a few more. For me, there is no doubt that the only two long term, dedicated dealers are Kubota and John Deere. The Kubota dealer has been here forever, and doesn't look to be slowing down. That is what a large dealer network offers me. Most of the others listed haven't lasted, and if I had bought one of them, I'd be out of luck for parts or service.