We're not just talkin', we're walkin': We gave up our Kubota dealership to deal Kioti

[dkostiha]

The local Kioti dealer here just switched over to Cab Cadet/Yanmar. I don't know the details, just an observation.

 

[Kenny619]

i'm a farmer and willing to buy a tractor

 

[wallace]

Kioti is a superior tractor. However some of their key people in play are going to sink that ship.
I have never dealt with a company that had as many personal changes. Seems like just as someone starts to get real good at there job. Kioti gets ride of them.
I just found out that the regional rep that use to call on us, left and went to McCormick. :confused2: Seems like they can't keep help for long.
Ohh well I guess every business has growing pains.

 

[SLIMDOG]

Good thoughts Jinman. We did not carry the whole Kubota line up. Had we been construction and everything else it may have been a more difficult decision.

As for Bobcat; it gets interesting. I had been trying for 3 years to get a Bobcat dealership. The closest dealer to us at that time was 1 hour away and we live in the GTA (ie 3.5 million people).

They did finally call and say that they were willing to look at us. By then we were well on our way with Kioti and we felt that we would be better off working for the manufacture rather than a company that only had a 5 year contract.

Right now it looks like a good call. We suspect that the Bobcat deal won't be renewed which is why Dae Dong has entered into agreements with Landini and McCormick. It isn't reasonable that this would have happened if all was well in the Bobcat deal.

I am old enough to remember Toyota being a big joke in Canada. Who's laughing now. I think / hope that Kioti is the emerging brand as Toyota was.

Cheers,

 

[SLIMDOG]

Cool, I actually think that the sub-compact Cub Yanmars are a pretty decent unit. We considered carrying them but in our market they are almost unknown. Their market share is almost non-existent and we need to sell a bunch to make it worth while.

Cheers,

 

[beppington]

Kioti, Run Ahead of the Pack! :thumbsup:

... to the repair department?



I AM ONLY KIDDING ... SERIOUSLY ONLY KIDDING!! :thumbsup: :laughing:

 

[MFRED]

Don't let that market share get to you. Be sure you take care of yourself, not the manufacturer. You need to be profitable first, market share don't pay the bills.

It sounds as though you've been around a while so I'm sure you know this.

Glad the new venture has worked out. Would you be willing to share any more on your decision to switch? Just wondering, I've heard more stories of switching the other way.

The Bobcat thing is a little interesting. It would be interesting to hear the Bobcat side of what's going to happen.

 

[SLIMDOG]

Thanks for the words and you are right; market share doesn't feed the kids or pay the mortgage.

As far as Bobcat goes, what I know for sure is that they didn't hit any of the expectations that Dae Dong had set out. I am also convinced that if it had worked out really well you wouldn't be seeing blue and red Dae Dongs.

Will the contract renew? This I don't know. In some ways I hope it continues because it adds credibility to our brand.

Cheers,

 

[Dargo]

Cool, I actually think that the sub-compact Cub Yanmars are a pretty decent unit. We considered carrying them but in our market they are almost unknown. Their market share is almost non-existent and we need to sell a bunch to make it worth while.

Cheers,

Clearly you're not in our area. Cub dealerships all but disappeared due to pathetic quality and extremely poor service. Now that they have Yanmar, their sales lit up big time. We have zero Kioti presence. They are literally unknown here. I'd honestly say that Tractor King and other Chinese tractors outsell Kioti in my area by at least 100:1.

I've mentioned it before, but Kioti made a HUGE marketing mistake when they hit my area. Every guy who had a gravel parking lot and a yard barn had Kioti tractors 10 or so years, maybe more, ago. Their quality was extremely poor and support even worse. Kioti dealerships disappeared as fast as they popped up and have not been back since. I think most dealers are afraid to even try to take them on since they flopped so badly here and had the reputation of being a disposable tractor you bought out of a yard barn.

Clearly, like Hyundai and Kia, the product quality has gone up. However, unlike Hyundai and Kia, nobody wants any part of Kioti in my area. With zero support and the only dealer within a hundred miles of me demanding more than you can buy a Kubota or Deere for, it's no wonder there aren't any in my area. I have no idea what Kioti is doing with their franchising, but some of their moves have been questionable at best (Wallace). Hope it works out well for you in your area and you don't get worked over by Kioti. I say that because with the metro area the size I live in, Kioti has flat missed the boat when they have zero presence here. Even if they added a couple of dealers here, it would be a good 10 years before very many would take a chance on them since the price difference between known brands and Kioti has gotten very slim.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Clearly you're not in our area. Cub dealerships all but disappeared due to pathetic quality and extremely poor service. Now that they have Yanmar, their sales lit up big time. We have zero Kioti presence. They are literally unknown here. I'd honestly say that Tractor King and other Chinese tractors outsell Kioti in my area by at least 100:1.

I've mentioned it before, but Kioti made a HUGE marketing mistake when they hit my area. Every guy who had a gravel parking lot and a yard barn had Kioti tractors 10 or so years, maybe more, ago. Their quality was extremely poor and support even worse. Kioti dealerships disappeared as fast as they popped up and have not been back since. I think most dealers are afraid to even try to take them on since they flopped so badly here and had the reputation of being a disposable tractor you bought out of a yard barn.

Clearly, like Hyundai and Kia, the product quality has gone up. However, unlike Hyundai and Kia, nobody wants any part of Kioti in my area. With zero support and the only dealer within a hundred miles of me demanding more than you can buy a Kubota or Deere for, it's no wonder there aren't any in my area. I have no idea what Kioti is doing with their franchising, but some of their moves have been questionable at best (Wallace). Hope it works out well for you in your area and you don't get worked over by Kioti. I say that because with the metro area the size I live in, Kioti has flat missed the boat when they have zero presence here. Even if they added a couple of dealers here, it would be a good 10 years before very many would take a chance on them since the price difference between known brands and Kioti has gotten very slim.

Maybe not to the 100:1 odds as your area has seen, Kioti is still floundering in a sea of obscurity around these parts. In roughly 10 years, we've had 4 different dealers attempt to fire up here. They come and they go....Each ones failure putting the next one closer to the grave.

Not commenting on product quality, just corporate standards for dealers (based solely on what I've sen personally) Kioti has out stayed their welcome here. And that is a shame for the relative few people who did take a chance with them.