Hobby CUT Owners

   / Hobby CUT Owners #31  
dakotagun, I don't think the snippets were targeted at you, it's at those that pretend they know what they're doing, can't hack it, then leave shortly thereafter.

You sound like the real deal, not a hypocrite. :thumbsup:
 
   / Hobby CUT Owners #32  
We are beating this poor dead horse....IMHO customers are the entire part of the equation....without them there is nothing.

Without the manufacturer, there would be nothing, so that works both ways. People can want for something all day long, but if there isn't money to be made, it won't happen. It's not like people send an auto manufacturer an idea and say "please build this"....not how it happens. Manufacturers come up with ideas, create concept cars, and then gauge the response from focus groups, auto shows, etc. It starts with the manufacturer, and gets refined with input from the public, and then they make a decision. This is very different from how things work in the tractor world, and part of why this is such a poor analogy.

Navigators took over from the pickup because the truck part of that was totally usless to those that bought them. So now we get this version of the ford and it is still moving along nice thank you very much.

Your history is wrong. The Navigator didn't "take over" from the trucks, and it's barely hanging on right now. They started making Navigators in 1997. Their first truck didn't come out until the 2002 Blackwood, which was a total failure, and only lasted one year (3.3K sold). It was another 3 years before they came out with the 2005 to 2008 Mark LT. Navigator sales have been on essentially a steady decline from the second year until now, and the last 5 years have only sold around 8K each year.

Go to any dealer....I would bet if you want a "work truck" they will have to order it for you. The people that buy trucks do want them fancy....leather, radios that rattle the windows, climate control...that is all you will find on any dealers lot. The cloth bench seat manual trans is a thing that is just not going to be stocked....because it really does not sell.

The closest Ford dealer to me currently has two F150 XL work trucks in inventory, and within a reasonable drive there are 100+ showing up when you do an online inventory search. Needless to say, they stock them, because they sell around here. Some folks want fancy, some folks want practical...you can't use gross generalizations and say "people that buy trucks want fancy" because that isn't true...only some want that.

Like the other poster said trucks are the family car now.

Certainly some trucks are the family car, but not all. In fact, you said you use your truck only for truck purposes, so you actually contradict that point.
 
   / Hobby CUT Owners #33  
Ok...your right, when someone makes a product there are always customers for it.

Just like the Cadillac Cimarron.
 
   / Hobby CUT Owners #34  
Ok...your right, when someone makes a product there are always customers for it.

Just like the Cadillac Cimarron.

I never said that; I said that both consumer and manufacturer enter into the equation.

Still, you could have picked a much better example than the Cimarron.

In 7 model years Cadillac sold 132,499 of the Cimarron.

In the last 7 model years Lincoln sold 72,980 Navigators.

The Navigator is just barely holding on as I mentioned earlier.

Still, I'm not sure what point you're trying to debate. You say buyers want fancy trucks, and fancy tractors, but if that were the case, they would still be selling Lincoln Blackwoods, and Mark LTs, but combined they didn't quite crack 40K sold. That doesn't sound like much of an argument for fancy trucks.

The OP thinks there's a tie between hobby tractors and pickup trucks. I don't see it, and I'm not seeing anything in this thread to back it up. Tractors getting "fancy" is nothing more than normal product development over time. They've reached a point where they're easy to use, and most anybody can manage to operate one. Cars used to be much harder to drive...manual idle speed, fuel mixture, and ignition timing mounted to the steering wheel, a manual choke on the dash, non-sychronized transmissions, manual steering, manual (even mechanical) brakes, etc, etc. You actually had to know something about the machine to operate one back then, and today they do everything but pour your coffee for you. There aren't nearly as many tractors in use as cars/trucks, their use isn't nearly as widespread, so that development is going to naturally lag behind something like the automobile which is virtually everywhere now.

The big thing is that OP's question is based upon an assumed premise (Cabela's business model) that everybody is guessing about. We don't know what their business model is based upon, and nobody I'm aware of actually has a good idea of what actual sales prices will be (since they're not charging MSRP).

Only time will tell how any of that pans out.
 
   / Hobby CUT Owners #35  
Around here a fancy truck is a 3/4 or one ton 4x4 diesel with all the goodies. Got to love the black smoke.
 
   / Hobby CUT Owners #36  
Around here a fancy truck is a 3/4 or one ton 4x4 diesel with all the goodies. Got to love the black smoke.

That's what I think of when I hear 'fancy trucks". Lincoln pickups are totally a joke, so I didn't even think of them. More like the "king ranch" fords, or any truck set up like that. You know, mega cab, power everything, heated leather seats, big rims, tinted windows, chipped, etc. etc.

See those things every day around here. Some people work them, some people spend 80k on a pavement princess. Seems silly to me, but it's their money to spend.

Same with tractors, Bluetooth, hst+, digital displays, radios, backup cameras. Someone on here got a faux wood grain cooler/warmer for his LS. Again, that's great, and I'm happy that those tractors are available for people who want them. I, however, am glad that they make tractors (and trucks) without the gizmos.
 
   / Hobby CUT Owners #37  
Someone on here got a faux wood grain cooler/warmer for his LS. .

In his defense, he said he had no idea it was faux wood....he just ordered a cooler. I still can't image who came up with the idea of faux wood anything for a tractor :)
 
   / Hobby CUT Owners #38  
In his defense, he said he had no idea it was faux wood....he just ordered a cooler. I still can't image who came up with the idea of faux wood anything for a tractor :)

Yeah but price side ... that thing is pretty cool!
 
   / Hobby CUT Owners #39  
.

The OP thinks there's a tie between hobby tractors and pickup trucks. I don't see it, and I'm not seeing anything in this thread to back it up. Tractors getting "fancy" is nothing more than normal product development over time.

.

I can understand the ops attachment if you look at a tractor as a "farm" tool as was the original premise of the pick up as a "work or contractor tool". Things evolve as you say according to customer base. If 80% of pick ups are sold as a "second car" then the pick up evolves into a smooth riding, passenger carrying, convenience option entity. I do not own a "farm" that produces crop but yet I have a cut that I suppose can be considered a "hobby" tractor as it supports a passion of mine in gathering wood. If you categorize this as not really a "farm or commercial" enterprise, I ponder that you can say it falls in a general aspect of "hobby". I have a p.u. that can do 12.8 in the quarter, it is definitely a "hobby"
 
   / Hobby CUT Owners
  • Thread Starter
#40  
I can understand the ops attachment if you look at a tractor as a "farm" tool as was the original premise of the pick up as a "work or contractor tool". Things evolve as you say according to customer base. If 80% of pick ups are sold as a "second car" then the pick up evolves into a smooth riding, passenger carrying, convenience option entity. I do not own a "farm" that produces crop but yet I have a cut that I suppose can be considered a "hobby" tractor as it supports a passion of mine in gathering wood. If you categorize this as not really a "farm or commercial" enterprise, I ponder that you can say it falls in a general aspect of "hobby". I have a p.u. that can do 12.8 in the quarter, it is definitely a "hobby"

It has been fun watching all the responses.

Yes, the comparison I was making to pickups and CUTs was based on the current trend in CUTs to gain features, comforts and price the way pickups have over the years.

My tractor is but one of my internal combustion engine related hobbies. It has made carring for and expanding the use of my little 5 acres of heaven more fun and easier on my back!:thumbsup:

I tell people all the time, "if it has a internal combustion engine on it, I'll play with it"!:D
 
 
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