Rumors of new stuff...

[Richard]

Went to my local Kubota dealer yesterday to look at a ZTR mower... while sitting there talking.. he told me of his understanding that Kubota is coming out with a competitor to the Mule and JD's Gator. He said it was supposed to be diesel and was "gonna blow their socks off".

He also said there was going to be a new tractor out, that they'd only teased him about it and gave him no details, but that it was a (I forget which one) "M110 or something of that size, and a "mx??" all put into a blender... (??) They weren't even teasing him with pricing as they were still in discussions on their price point.

anyway, I guess the rumors are starting to fly. The Gator counterpart was the only thing he was really "sure" about.

Just thought I'd pass that on, it's accuracy is guaranteed for 30 minutes, or double your money back!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Richard

 

[jlbota]

When I went to purchase my BX22 back in March. My dealer had one of these (Gator, Mule) Models they were testing for Kubota. I saw a few guys driving it around the lot. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

I was dealing with the owner of the dealership and he told me that Kubota will pick some of their bigger dealers and actually send them things they are thinking of coming out with. And what they do is tear them down and put them back together and use them. Then they give Kubota their opinion on what would make it better and such.

He also had a rented Penske truck sitting outside with a Kawasaki Mule in the back. (Obviously for Comparison.)
Then just after I made my deal with him on my BX22 he excused himself as he had to attend a meeting. I looked out of his office and he wasn't kidding. There were about 8 people piling out of a big SUV in thru the front door of his new showroom. All looked to be Japanese and spoke very broken english. And then they disappeared up to one of his old buildings.
So I would say your dealer is very correct about this. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Dozernut]

Its funny that you brought that up because yesterday I was talking to the owner of the dealership I frequent. I was looking at maybe getting a Kawasaki Mule, which He also sells. He suggested that I wait and look at the new Kubota utilty atv they have coming out this fall. He said he has 25 on order and they are a sweet machine.
What he told me was, they will be diesel powered with a hydro transmission, no torque converter. They will have power steering, a dump bed, optional cab enclosure and a host of other goodies. He also said that this atv will not have the problems of the Mule of running out of power or having the torque converter belt slip on hills.
Sounds like it might be a real nice unit, so I am waiting until the new Kubota utility atv comes out.

 

[cowboydoc]

Should be interesting as Deere is also coming out with a whole new line of utility vehicles this fall. The top of the line 6x4 is supposed to best the Polaris Ranger in all categories so we will see. Top speed the dealer said was 50 mph. They will also be offering 4 wheelers now too.

 

[yellowsocks93]

Blow the socks off Deere yeah right. The gator was the first and best utility vehicle like it. I guess I feel this way working for a JD dealer /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif. The new gator will pivot right behind the seats for better suspension and there is a smaller line of gators coming out at the same time that will be smaller than the ones now. I saw pics of the gators and I think they look like the Hummer H2 from the front. The 4x4s use the same box as now. The 4 wheelers are going to be made by Bombardier. I can only hope they will sell good as I rembember when JD tried to sell snowmobiles.

 

[TresCrows]

This was a rumor a year ago. There were pics somewhere of a prototype, I thought they were on TBN, maybe not. My dealer friend told me about the Kubota unit some time ago. He made no claims about blowing SOX off of anyone, just that it was typical of Kubota. It will be made by Kubota with a Kubota engine and a Kubota multi range Hydro transmission. He also had presold units on order--so he claims. It will have a variety of inovative features and will be priced competively so he says after seeing the unit in action in a Kubota dealers meeting in California I think it was he attended--he was very excited about the new product.
Let's see, took JD 2 or 3 years to provide a serious competitor to the BX which they outwardly pretended to ignore-----hmmm---so Kubota spent several years as well ignoring the potential of their own multipurpose vehicle and have now decided it is a market they want in on. Right up front it has the advantage of being Kubota built vs badge engineered. I think it may be produced from the Georgia plant but we will see.
He also told me there were some news in the small tractor segment from Kubota but he did not elaborate. His lot is sold down quite a bit from Spring, no, he and Kubota are not going out of buisness, new units are on the way and it is a seasonal inventory sell down. J

 

[yellowsocks93]

Just curious by what you mean by badge engineered. The Deeres are very well built and we see very few in the shop for repairs. They are built by Deere I believe in Horicon Wisconsin.

 

[Will_C]

Not to get off topic, but the John Deere snowmobiles were a quality unit in the mid-to-late 1970's. My family had 4 or 5 of the different models. I believe they were a successful product for JD. The mid 1980's were a tough time for snowmobiles, and JD got out because of the market.
Will

 

[Green_in_MI]

It's just Tres Crows nice way of reminding us of Kubotas superiority.

 

[Alan L.]

No doubt the Kubota vehicle will be of high quality, but at what price? I gave about $5600 for my Mule. The gator in that class didn't have a rear supension for the same money with the same Kawasaki engine and drive train.

The only complaint I have is the Mule is a little underpowered going up steep hills, but you have to realize its not a 4-wheeler. It also free-wheels going downhill, so probably is not appropriate for taking mountain jeep trails. Otherwise we really love ours.

An HST would be better and would address these problems, but they will probably start at $10K.