Who has the most hours on their Kioti?

[coobie]

Dargo,have your friend contact this Kioti dealer.Van pamel sales in armada Michigan.They have been a Kioti dealer since 1986 and might have some good input on tractors with a lot of hours of service.coobie.

 

[BTI]

FYI Dargo-
Nothing you have said has bothered me in the slightest.
It's all well founded and your friend has legitimate concerns.
He is possibly going to be basing his business on a brand that he knows very little about.
I can see alot of the brands/models slipping to being more homeowner oriented.
Just look at the weight reductions on alot of machines.
Depending on end use this can be good OR bad.
I think that is also why so many of the brands have multiple size/weight/specs etc in the same HP ranges.
Some much more suited for commercial duty.

BTI

 

[albmn10]

Just as a update Dargo, boy how ironic it was, i got 2 letters in the mail the other day, one from my old kioti dealer, Rodicks Farm Machinery, basically telling me he dropped the kioti line because he couldnt keep the up with the Kioti inventory stocking requirements and that Kioti refused to offer its dealers fair and competitive financing programs.. Pretty sad i must say to treat a Dealer to have backed thier product since their arrival in the US since 1986 to end this way.. The other letter was from Kioti telling me that my dealer decided to drop the Kioti line and that they intend to establish a new full line service dealer in my area in the near future... I will let this information stand for itself..

 

[JoelD]

I wonder if bobcat has anything to do with this sort of thing.

I just saw a bobcat dealer pop up in an old used car dealer lot in NH, just drove by yesterday for the first time. Did not stop in.

I'd had to see Kioti loose their identity,

Joel

 

[Dargo]

Just as a update Dargo, boy how ironic it was, i got 2 letters in the mail the other day, one from my old kioti dealer, Rodicks Farm Machinery, basically telling me he dropped the kioti line because he couldnt keep the up with the Kioti inventory stocking requirements and that Kioti refused to offer its dealers fair and competitive financing programs.. Pretty sad i must say to treat a Dealer to have backed thier product since their arrival in the US since 1986 to end this way.. The other letter was from Kioti telling me that my dealer decided to drop the Kioti line and that they intend to establish a new full line service dealer in my area in the near future... I will let this information stand for itself..

I'm certainly no distribution franchise expert, but I do think Kioti is trying to do the right thing to move up to the next level with their product. Through building a quality product and keeping the price low, I think they've started to come out of "it's just a cheap Korean knock-off of Kubota" label that's been placed on them since they've come to the U.S. Their next logical step seems to be to rid themselves of the little roadside yard barn gravel lots that sell their product and get large, well established with service departments and parts departments, dealers to sell their products.

In order for them to grow and improve their reputation they are going to inevitably eliminate some good smaller dealers. I think it would be difficult for them to completely avoid doing this. I started this thread because the dealer I know does have a very well respected outlet, sells several well known brands and apparently has been approached in some fashion to consider selling Kioti. It's only my guess, no fact, but I assume the existing manufacturers he represents has challenged him find any reasonably high hour Kioti tractors out working anywhere. When Kubota made that jump way back when, they were able to give references to hundreds, if not thousands, of their tractors that had several thousand hours on them and were still running fine. Again, it's just my guess, but I think the lack of Kioti being able to pass that hurdle is being used against them in getting most larger and well respected dealers from carrying their product.

FWIW, the guy I'm talking about passed on Kioti. He challenged me and several others who told him that Kioti tractors are darn good tractors to give him some references where some are running with thousands of hours on them and weren't just "first tractors" for homeowners. None of us were able to provide him with any references, so he passed. I'm a little let down because I'd have loved to see them around here and I really thought there would have been several guys on here with those sort of hours on them. I could swear that some people have said that their county highway departments had purchased Kioti tractors to mow medians. If that were the case, I figured those would be easy examples of high hour Kioti tractors in commercial use. Unfortunately, I was unable to give him a single example and I assume nobody else could either. Oh well, maybe in another few years...

 

[albmn10]

Just a added note Dargo, i believe Rodick was one of the dealers selling to the local highway departments for highway brushhogging here in the Albany Ny area . Ive seen them on the roads for going on 3 years now so im sure some must have racked up some hours. As i previoulsy mentioned, Rodicks had some customers with alot of hours on their machines. I dont agree with the fact that Kioti is doing the right thing by closing down some of their smaller dealerships , Where my dealer was located was in a rural mountain area, Schroon Lake, so having a huge dealership there would be pointless. Matt

 

[TheRegMan]

It seems that asking how many people have thousands of hours on their Kioti is kind of a strange way to make a to base a business decision. That just doesn't seem logical to me.

I was reading the John Deer forums recently and it seems that the general consensus, or atleast a well accepted thought is that maybe the Ag John Deer tractor isn't any better than any others. The John Deer success is based upon a very large dealer network and most importantly a maintenance capability that is unmatched by anyone else. As one of the popsters stated, if a John Deer breaks down in the field, he can have someone on site to repair it within 2 hours. A farmer needs that kind of service. It doesn't mean the tractor is any better. It just means that when they break (and they do) he can get it repaired quickly.

I suspect it will be a long time before Kioti can break into the Ag market for this reason alone. Not because they produce an inferior tractor. Dealer support is clearly lacking.

Maybe one thing he should have considered is how highly respected the Bobcat name is. Does anyone think they would banked their reputation on an "inferior" tractor. These Kioti tractors are beginning to replace the John Deers at rental yards where they will be subjected to all kinds of abuse.

I am fairly certain Bobcat looked at Kioti very, very closely before attaching their name to a Kioti tractor.

 

[Tractordisorder]

I don't post too often, as I'm busy like many of us. I have a 1000 hours on my 2004 DK-45 with no issues. My tractor mows the entire town of Twin Mountain, NH and has never had a problem. Like many of you know, mowing requires the tractor to be running at full at PTO RPM. My mower is a Ferri ZMT-160 flail mower and takes ever bit of horsepower the tractor has. When I mow, I'm at it for a full 8 hours running at full bore in the heat of summer. This tractor has never failed me and I can't say enough about it. My local dealer has been extremely responsive to my needs and as a result, I would buy another one in a heart beat. Just my two cents worth.

 

[Coyote machine]

For what its worth I bought my DK35se HST tractor with backhoe and front end loader this past summer sight unseen. I went to my local Kioti dealer in Granville, NY; Moore's Corners, thinking he was a Kubota dealer (because of the orange resemblance)- when driving by at 60+mph its hard to discern brand/paint differences
Anyway I had used Kubotas for various jobs over the years- smaller units, CUTS, and liked them well enough. When I realized Moore's was selling Kiotis I asked a bunch of questions and did a parking lot test drive. I bought the tractor the same day without going anywhere else or checking prices or other brands.
I felt the points he had about the type of construction of the frame, axles, hydraulics etc. we good enough for me. PLUS the four year warranty sold me on any concerns about reliability, etc.
I currently have about 130 hours since the mid- summer and have been impressed with the tractor's ability to do exactly what I want it to.
I would have to say the Kioti is the Hundai of the tractor market today- in my opinion. That is a good thing, because a few years ago I was laughing at those who were buying Hundais; not anymore. They seem, like the Japanese 'invasion' by makers like Toyota to be doing the same thing today that Toyota did back in the 70's. Rapidly building their rep and market share.I know its been said already.
Let's not discount the Koreans as second class tractor makers just because there is not a lot of evidence that there tractors will last 7- 8,000 hours before falling apart.
Fact is , just like cars today there is really no such thing as an American or foreign made car or tractor. John Deere, for example uses parts and engines from Chinese makers, as does just about everyone else. Most mechanical items like cars and trucks, tractors are made of parts from all over the world for various reasons and for economic survival.
Kioti hits the CUT segment for the most part, and maybe that is their game plan for now. Once that market is solidly established then they may decide to challenge the commercial, industrial giants like Deere, etc.
Consider too that Kioti is not foolish enough to make rapid market changes in an economic turmoil like now.
FWIW, I believe my dealer said he took over the Scroon Lake dealer's inventory at Kioti's request. Barry, the owner is a very knowledgeable tractor guy who can answer most any question one might have about Kioti's and other tractors. He's been in the business for 30+ years, (if I'm not mistaken about the actual number of years). (I do know they used to carry Ford a long time ago).

 

[SunnyJim]

Just as a update Dargo, boy how ironic it was, i got 2 letters in the mail the other day, one from my old kioti dealer, Rodicks Farm Machinery, basically telling me he dropped the kioti line because he couldnt keep the up with the Kioti inventory stocking requirements and that Kioti refused to offer its dealers fair and competitive financing programs.. Pretty sad i must say to treat a Dealer to have backed thier product since their arrival in the US since 1986 to end this way.. The other letter was from Kioti telling me that my dealer decided to drop the Kioti line and that they intend to establish a new full line service dealer in my area in the near future... I will let this information stand for itself..

I don't think its just Kioti. The only Deere dealer in the county decided not to renew their contract with Deere. They had been a JD dealer for 30 years. I spoke with the owner about 2 weeks ago and he told me that Deere is not what it was 30 years ago. The mowers are not what they used to be and Deere does not "help out" the small dealers they way they used to years ago. He said that he was getting stuck with allot of small items that JD used to pick up etc.