Mahindra Quality

[peterc38]

ABSOLUTELY! I understand later units were not as good, though still good machines.

I'd say you understand wrong then. Do you have any data or hard facts to show that Kubotas "later units" produced after the 1990's are "not as good"?

 

[Trillium Farm]

I'd say you understand wrong then. Do you have any data or hard facts to show that Kubotas "later units" produced after the 1990's are "not as good"?

No hard facts only comments from farmers who have them. These comments pertain to "Farm" tractors not compacts and refer to build quality not reliability

 

[Sysop]

Virtually all companies ride waves of quality and affordability. They produce a nice product at a nice price, people buy it. They start doing things to maximize profits until at some point they get bitten and there is concern they're impacting profits. They then take a step or two back and work hard at quality for a while till profits come back. The really good companies identify the issues they're getting bitten on and react quick enough to maintain an overall good name, this is Kubota (or any other good manufacturer) to a tee. My brother in law has a Kubota 32 horse TLB and under warranty it had 4 hydraulic lines burst, one of the four had burst twice. After the one went a second time he started going to Napa to have hoses made out of pocket rather than dealing with the warranty anymore... Does that make Kubota's bad? no. Does that make their warranty service bad? no. He just caught a model they were attempting to maximize profits by going with lesser quality hose components than other models. I'm sure they corrected it on the assembly line as new ones were coming off to save their good name, but that's what good companies do. No different with my fuel lines on my Mahindra. They changed the part used on the assembly of new units and shipped out updated lines under warranty as needed.

 

[TomSeller]

No hard facts only comments from farmers who have them. These comments pertain to "Farm" tractors not compacts and refer to build quality not reliability

I certainly agree that the 80s and 90s Kubotas were very, very good tractors that cemented the brand and paved the way for improved tractors in general. I would not say that the quality of newer Kubotas has fallen off that standard at all. I will say that some competition has narrowed the gap. You can't go wrong with Kubota. Competition is good, lots of good brands these days.

 

[Sysop]

I certainly agree that the 80s and 90s Kubotas were very, very good tractors that cemented the brand and paved the way for improved tractors in general. I would not say that the quality of newer Kubotas has fallen off that standard at all. I will say that some competition has narrowed the gap. You can't go wrong with Kubota. Competition is good, lots of good brands these days.

I think you're absolutely right, although I think there is more to it than that, and more than what I stated above about them being just as guilty as everyone else at being a good solid profit seeking business that has resulted in a couple things they've had to make adjustments to after the initial release.

I think also there was a pretty major decline in quality of all manufacturing of products we had here in the states for quite some time in the 70s and 80s.

Brands that were some of the originators of the market were being bought out, going under, or started buying other manufacturer's stuff to put their names on. In contrast it was in the 70s and 80s that Japanese manufacturing was really taking off and starting to develop some genuinely high quality stuff. That's when most of the Japanese automakers also entered the US market.

Japan was the best it had ever been at manufacturing of all types at this time. To quote a character from a movie of the 80s "What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan." which at the time was a very popular mindset and held a lot of truth. Kubota had a quality product when quality was a rather uncommon thing and made them as much of the tractor landscape as Toyota or Honda are in the auto market are today.

You are correct that in the subsequent years, the gap has been closed rather than any sort of decline in Kubota, Japanese manufacturing, or anything else. Manufacturing in all countries is flourishing, I think partly due to the "information age" where anyone that wants to learn a subject can do so. We have many amazingly smart people figuring out new technologies and new ways to apply our technologies and they can share and build off each other easier and more productively than any other time in history. I don't really think there are any inherently "bad" brands.

 

[TomSeller]

I think you're absolutely right, although I think there is more to it than that, and more than what I stated above about them being just as guilty as everyone else at being a good solid profit seeking business that has resulted in a couple things they've had to make adjustments to after the initial release.

I think also there was a pretty major decline in quality of all manufacturing of products we had here in the states for quite some time in the 70s and 80s.

Brands that were some of the originators of the market were being bought out, going under, or started buying other manufacturer's stuff to put their names on. In contrast it was in the 70s and 80s that Japanese manufacturing was really taking off and starting to develop some genuinely high quality stuff. That's when most of the Japanese automakers also entered the US market.

Japan was the best it had ever been at manufacturing of all types at this time. To quote a character from a movie of the 80s "What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan." which at the time was a very popular mindset and held a lot of truth. Kubota had a quality product when quality was a rather uncommon thing and made them as much of the tractor landscape as Toyota or Honda are in the auto market are today.

You are correct that in the subsequent years, the gap has been closed rather than any sort of decline in Kubota, Japanese manufacturing, or anything else. Manufacturing in all countries is flourishing, I think partly due to the "information age" where anyone that wants to learn a subject can do so. We have many amazingly smart people figuring out new technologies and new ways to apply our technologies and they can share and build off each other easier and more productively than any other time in history. I don't really think there are any inherently "bad" brands.

I don't think I can argue your points, you pretty much summed it up. Too bad American greed and complacency declined the quality of American manufacturing in the 70s and 80s.. Some day I think it will be back, but I might be observing from 6' under by that time.

 

[Sysop]

I think (hope) those errors are well realized. Now it seems to me the problem is there is a divide in the solution.

Some are fighting to go backwards and trying to recapture "those glory days" of manufacturing in the US when we've engineered so much of the talent out of manufacturing and made most of it simple enough it is not too different from working the "assembly line" at the local McDonalds. Those high paying manufacturing jobs just don't exist for the most part anymore.

The others have realized to be the "leader" in manufacturing, you must be the nation of developers and engineers that simplifies everything for the minimum wage assembly line workers.

Sorta sad, but quite true...

 

[mike69440]

The 1980s and 1990s Kubotas are where Kubota made a name for themselves. Very good machines.

New owner picked up my B7200D last Weekend. A new Kubota similar to the Max28Xl goes around 20K in New England. I could not bring myself to spending that much.

 

[s219]

New owner picked up my B7200D last Weekend. A new Kubota similar to the Max28Xl goes around 20K in New England. I could not bring myself to spending that much.

No way they cost that much. I paid $15400 for a B2920 with front loader, which is larger than the Max 28, and remember at the time people were getting similar prices up in New England (used to be from there, so I paid attention). And Barlows delivers up there and their prices are even better. You could have gotten a new Kubota B in the $14-16K range for sure. Even sticker price doesn't get anywhere near $20K.

 

[Agvg]

Here in Europe Kubota have tried since the early eighties but never had any success, even today the latest and larger kubotas is not near what other brands offer in equipment or versions.

What is different in the US? Was quality so bad on the older brands?