Comparison Bobcat 2025

[mikefunaro]

My dealer told me he expects to begin selling Kioti branded skid steers after the first of the year.

Sounds like they will be Bobcat produced, much like the Bobcat tractors in question are rebranded Kioti.

If thatç—´ true, it sounds like a long term strategic marketing agreement. Itç—´ a huge investment to design, develop, tool, and market a whole line of tractors. Billions of dollars before the first product is sold.

One doesn稚 post a help wanted ad on Craigslist to assemble a design, development, and manufacturing team for something like this.

But then when products are private labeled, the associated costs are much lower as there is no R&D cost, just the cost of some different paint and some time designing different headlights and a slightly different appearance.

In the last 10 years it seems like the trend has been for all manufacturers to offer more and more things, even if their product expansions are private label arrangements or result in low volume.

I would argue that as a general rule (but not absolute) you'll get better sales and service from a dealer who generally sells and services more of that product. For example, I would think a bobcat dealer would be better at servicing compact track loaders vs a kioti dealer in their first year of selling the private label product.

When I started reading on doosan/bobcat a little bit more, it seems like there are some other issues, and at one point earlier in the year they were considering selling off some components of doosan. Report: Doosan exploring sale of construction equipment business, but wants to keep Bobcat

Let us not forget that bobcat already pulled the plug on the tractors once before.

 

[finn1]

But then when products are private labeled, the associated costs are much lower as there is no R&D cost, just the cost of some different paint and some time designing different headlights and a slightly different appearance.

In the last 10 years it seems like the trend has been for all manufacturers to offer more and more things, even if their product expansions are private label arrangements or result in low volume.

I would argue that as a general rule (but not absolute) you'll get better sales and service from a dealer who generally sells and services more of that product. For example, I would think a bobcat dealer would be better at servicing compact track loaders vs a kioti dealer in their first year of selling the private label product.

When I started reading on doosan/bobcat a little bit more, it seems like there are some other issues, and at one point earlier in the year they were considering selling off some components of doosan. Report: Doosan exploring sale of construction equipment business, but wants to keep Bobcat

Let us not forget that bobcat already pulled the plug on the tractors once before.

Typically in deals like this, at least in the ones I have been involved in, the Oem recovers engineering R&R costs as part of the deal.

They only make sense if both parties can make money.

Yes, service is an issue, and there is a learning curve for a new dealership with a new product. Those issues can be contained with training at the corporate level and vetting of dealer principals.

An example is the FCA arrangement with dealers who want to add the Ram Promaster to their existing dealerships.. FCA requires that the dealer principal invest in a separate repair facility and parts department, maintain service stock, and have at least two service loaners on hand to make sure retail customers aren’t left high and dry in the event of a failure.

CUT dealers obviously don’t, for the most part, have the financial resources that a vehicle dealer does, but you get the gist...

 

[Bobctat2035]

We got our 2035 in September and I love it and already have something like 110 hours doing odd jobs like grading our gravel driveways/parking lot, digging up stumps and clearing brush that the previous owners had been piling up for decades.
I have no complaints about the actual machine but I can confirm that Bobcat and the dealers really don't have the first clue what they're doing with these things. My dealer, the sales guy and services guys, really are impressively incompetent but I don't think it's specific to the CTs.

The only specific issue I'll elaborate on right now (I'm working) is that a stray branch made it's way into the radiator fan and obliterated it. Having already been dealing with the dealer's incompetence, I knew it would probably take forever to arrive. Sure enough they quoted me 6 weeks for it to come in from Korea. lol Luckily I made my own the same day so it wasn't down for more than a couple of hours and the new fan blade (which is way overpriced) arrived 3 weeks later.

If you're capable of working on it yourself or able to decipher simple installation instructions, then the issues with the dealers shouldn't really matter.

Just be careful about the weight of the grapple. The one in the picture is 500ish lbs and I had to make a counterweight so I wouldn't need a huge box blade on at all times to balance it out. Any bigger on the 25hp version and you might have a hard time making it up any steep grades if you have any.

 

[lilranch2001]

We got our 2035 in September and I love it and already have something like 110 hours doing odd jobs like grading our gravel driveways/parking lot, digging up stumps and clearing brush that the previous owners had been piling up for decades.
I have no complaints about the actual machine but I can confirm that Bobcat and the dealers really don't have the first clue what they're doing with these things. My dealer, the sales guy and services guys, really are impressively incompetent but I don't think it's specific to the CTs.

The only specific issue I'll elaborate on right now (I'm working) is that a stray branch made it's way into the radiator fan and obliterated it. Having already been dealing with the dealer's incompetence, I knew it would probably take forever to arrive. Sure enough they quoted me 6 weeks for it to come in from Korea. lol Luckily I made my own the same day so it wasn't down for more than a couple of hours and the new fan blade (which is way overpriced) arrived 3 weeks later.

If you're capable of working on it yourself or able to decipher simple installation instructions, then the issues with the dealers shouldn't really matter.

Just be careful about the weight of the grapple. The one in the picture is 500ish lbs and I had to make a counterweight so I wouldn't need a huge box blade on at all times to balance it out. Any bigger on the 25hp version and you might have a hard time making it up any steep grades if you have any.

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I am not sure who your dealer is, but you should not paint with quite a large brush, as my local dealer is and has always been more than capable, and two other dealers I had dealt with previously has also been quite good!

 

[Bobctat2035]

I am not sure who your dealer is, but you should not paint with quite a large brush, as my local dealer is and has always been more than capable, and two other dealers I had dealt with previously has also been quite good!

I'm painting with a wide brush because 75% of the issues I've had with my dealer are Bobcat corporates fault. Lack of training, missing parts, poor communication, ridiculous and/or inaccurate lead times, inaccurate information in their documentation and their website, poorly thought out designs, etc. I figured my fan issue got my point across on it's own. A proprietary flimsily plastic part the tractor cannot run without had to be shipped from Korea? Bare in mind this is a Kioti tractor but instead of just selling me one sitting in a Kioti dealer with the same part number, they shipped us a $25 Kioti blade in a Bobcat box from across the world and charged $160 for it.

I could go into vivid detail about every problem we've had but that wasn't the point of my post which was that I love the tractor and if you don't live and die by the support from a dealer or Bobcat then this is a sure bet with the free loader option right now.

 

[lilranch2001]

BUT, you painted many high quality dealers with said brush, instead of placing the blame where you have (maybe properly) now.

 

[Henry Island Guy]

We got our 2035 in September and I love it and already have something like 110 hours doing odd jobs like grading our gravel driveways/parking lot, digging up stumps and clearing brush that the previous owners had been piling up for decades.
I have no complaints about the actual machine but I can confirm that Bobcat and the dealers really don't have the first clue what they're doing with these things. My dealer, the sales guy and services guys, really are impressively incompetent but I don't think it's specific to the CTs.

The only specific issue I'll elaborate on right now (I'm working) is that a stray branch made it's way into the radiator fan and obliterated it. Having already been dealing with the dealer's incompetence, I knew it would probably take forever to arrive. Sure enough they quoted me 6 weeks for it to come in from Korea. lol Luckily I made my own the same day so it wasn't down for more than a couple of hours and the new fan blade (which is way overpriced) arrived 3 weeks later.

If you're capable of working on it yourself or able to decipher simple installation instructions, then the issues with the dealers shouldn't really matter.

Just be careful about the weight of the grapple. The one in the picture is 500ish lbs and I had to make a counterweight so I wouldn't need a huge box blade on at all times to balance it out. Any bigger on the 25hp version and you might have a hard time making it up any steep grades if you have any.

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Thanks for your post. I am not getting the best vibe from my dealer. He cannot tell me when the unit will show up and they definitely do not have a good assortment of implements to chose from. I think he is going to be ok if I get my Grapple somewhere else as I do not want a heavy one. There is an LS model (made by some outfit in Canada) that the Kioti dealers around like for this size tractor. I will probably hang on a few more weeks and then I might just jump ship and get a Kioti. As this is going to get barged out to an island, by definition I am going to be doing most of the work on it myself.

 

[Bobctat2035]

Thanks for your post. I am not getting the best vibe from my dealer. He cannot tell me when the unit will show up and they definitely do not have a good assortment of implements to chose from. I think he is going to be ok if I get my Grapple somewhere else as I do not want a heavy one. There is an LS model (made by some outfit in Canada) that the Kioti dealers around like for this size tractor. I will probably hang on a few more weeks and then I might just jump ship and get a Kioti. As this is going to get barged out to an island, by definition I am going to be doing most of the work on it myself.

Yeah they really just don't much about these things at this point. I got my box blade from them because they had one there already. Everything else I've gotten for it has been non-bobcat because they're such a PITA to deal with. I ordered my grapple on ebay and received it 4 days later. Got my landscape rake from Tractor Supply and it was delivered the same day which was quite shocking actually. It took my sales guy 4 days to research how much the loader bucket weighed. lol


I still love it though. This was last weekends project.