Tractor News Bobcat Ending Compact Tractor Line?

[foggy1111]

I'm not sure about marketing and manufacturing agreements....and have little knowledge about the "Kioti" tractor....except for the good reviews here on TBN.

But, it seems to me that these companies have put together a great business plan.....and I can for-see that if they continue along the path they have made....that this could be a top-shelf brand over time. I'm told that Bobcat now has about 50% of the skid steer biz. Maybe the "big three" in compact tractors will include Bobcat? (or already does?)

When I see what my money will buy in white vs green (or blue or orange)....it makes me a convert. It's hard to argue with a 30% savings. :thumbsup:
But.....it cant last forever....and it will be interesting to see if they can maintain market share when the price diff is not so great. :confused2:

 

[Spudland_Dave]

When I see what my money will buy in white vs green (or blue or orange)....it makes me a convert. It's hard to argue with a 30% savings. :thumbsup:
But.....it cant last forever....and it will be interesting to see if they can maintain market share when the price diff is not so great. :confused2:

Therin lies the question....IMO I've viewed the current pricing of Bobcat CUT's as a strategy to buy marketshare and get both dealers and consumers comfortable with the brand and onboard. Once established, they can crank the price knob up a bit and become profitable.
IMO the Bobcat strategy of using smokin good pricing and promotions as a sales tool is very smart. No amount of TV or Radio commercials would have put their name out there like this. The marketing guys & gals over at Bobcat hit a home run. You can see it here on TBN, just 2 years ago the Bobcats were discussed mostly in the Kioti forums, and here we are with its own dedicated section.

To you current Bobcat owners....lets fast foward 5/6 years from now, for the sake of arguement, you have great service/support/etc.. from both your Bobcat dealer and your tractor & equipment. If you need to upgrade machine, even if the price of a new Kitty is equal to that of a Deere/Kubota, would you stick with Bobcat? My guess is yes...and if the answer is yes, then Bobcat has done what needed to be done to get into the CUT market.

 

[IslandTractor]

..lets fast foward 5/6 years from now, for the sake of arguement,.

By that time there will likely be (by then) well respected Chinese tractors undercutting the Korean made brands.

 

[foggy1111]

By that time there will likely be (by then) well respected Chinese tractors undercutting the Korean made brands.

That is possible....but who follows the Chinese? India? It's a dog-eat-dog world these days....and it's so dependent on the cost of labor, economies and currencies. Who knows whats next?? I see people trying to buy a brand with a re-sale value some 20 or 30 years away......I say good luck with that plan!!

I see the marketing plan put together by Yanmar / Cub- Cadet though.....and IMO while they may make some inroads with this "arrangement".....in no way do they have a plan such as the team at Bobcat / Kioti. The Bobcat guys simply have a reputation for, and know dirt better. :laughing:

 

[IslandTractor]

That is possible....but who follows the Chinese? India?

Then the US will be back in the game with solar/wind powered tractors!

 

[lilranch2001]

Yeah, I suppose there is some truth to that, not gonna pretend to not have bias ..To go a step further I'd say I'm a "Tractor Snob" and IMO the only 2 machines where I can smile on all fronts on is Kubota & Deere. The only thing Bobcat has on either Green or Orange is $10kAll that being said...would I have bought a Bobcat when I was shopping? At the prices they are at, definetly.

I disagree, I think the Bobcat for the most part is as good if not better than at least one of these, and in some respects both of them.

I tested and looked at 5 brands before buying, started out with Kubota, and just thought to many parts were chinsey. Went to deere, and to be honest, did not see much that impressed me to even consider paying so much more money for it, other than the drive off MMM. Since I do not have nor want one, it was a non issue.

So far at 98 hours, I am totally pleased with my 235, she just keeps getting stronger n stronger in all three ranges

 

[ElDorado]

What about this idea. Maybe it is Kioti (Daedong) who is the brains behind all this. Look here is a company putting out a good product at a decent price point and they can not reach the market share they want. So marketing at Kioti comes up with the idea to partner with Bobcat (Korean parent). The idea is to make tractors and make money. Maybe Kioti doesn't really care if the machines have Kioti names on them or Bobcat names as long as they can count some money at the end of the day.

Maybe the big plan is to due away with the Kioti dealers/franchises and instead subcontract out the sales side of the equation to Bobcat.

Just wondering.............

 

[foggy1111]

What about this idea. Maybe it is Kioti (Daedong) who is the brains behind all this. Look here is a company putting out a good product at a decent price point and they can not reach the market share they want. So marketing at Kioti comes up with the idea to partner with Bobcat (Korean parent). The idea is to make tractors and make money. Maybe Kioti doesn't really care if the machines have Kioti names on them or Bobcat names as long as they can count some money at the end of the day.

Maybe the big plan is to due away with the Kioti dealers/franchises and instead subcontract out the sales side of the equation to Bobcat.

Just wondering.............

YEP!!...it sure worked out such as you say for Deere and Yanmar (regardless of which company came up with the plan). Yanmar had a small USA following before the Deere marriage....not unlike Kioti.

 

[qed-cat225]

funny i heard that Bobcat was buying the Kioti brand or was it that Kubota said new holland was getting out of the tractor business?? Come on folks!

 

[rutwad]

To each his own, but I try to get as much info as I can before going to the stealerships. Salesmen will tell you what you need to hear, period. If you do go to the dealership, you may get more honesty from the service department.

I am not familiar with the Bobcat CUT's, but somewhat familiar with the skid-steers. Honestly, Bobcat would be one of the last machines I would consider when buying for personal use. From a selling point of view, Bobcat is probably the number 1 to have. Everybody knows "bobcat". Even if the machine is green, black, yellow, or purple- alot of people still generalize them as "bobcat" - like skill saws, crescent wrench, bush hogs, etc. Bobcat is able to sell because of it's popularity.

How does Bobcat compare to Kubota in the CUT market, I don't know. But Bobcat must think Kubota makes good engines since that is what they ran in their equipment. Now since Bobcat and Kubota have parted ways, Bobcat had to find a new powerplant.

Personally, I would look hard before I pulled the trigger on any Bobcat. Research, research, research, but that's me.

 

[art]

There is a lot of mis-information here as to who owns who and the Bobcat line is not owned by Ingersall Rand anymore!

The US as much as it's market has been growing is still small potato's to the orient!
Market share in those countries with frugal pricing on everything from tractors to wages are where there market shares count. They do look for the initial quality of build and the warrantee's that are superficially long here don't mean much to them over there as it is figured on a long term investment often ten to fifteen years at a minimum.

We are becoming a larger part of there business plans and for many the frontier so to speak but they use them actively for farming in large numbers so it will be a while to match up.

 

[Duffster]

There is a lot of mis-information here as to who owns who.

Like what?

 

[art]

Maybe it's not mis-information, they are both the same!

 

[kattywumpus]

Based on my resend tractor shopping exercise it appears to me Bobcat prices are already climbing higher the Kioti. Granted some of prices differences appear to be the result of dealer geographic coverage. For example I was able to get three quotes for the CT335. My local dealer, which is a large dealership with multiple locations in Maine, was almost $5K more then the lowest quote I received from a small Dealer in NH. When comparing the large NH dealer with the large ME dealer the ME dealer was still 3.5K higher for the base tractor. I saw a similar but smaller price spread between the larger and small Kioti dealers. The other thing I notice was the Bobcat dealers appeared to be less interested in my business then the Kioti dealers. The salesman for the Maine dealer asked if owned or worked for a construction company, when he found out it was a private or individual sale he pushed me to a different sales associate. Communication became more difficult as a result.

From this experience I have to wonder if Kioti and Bobcat are now focusing on different markets.

The end result was I purchased a Kioti DK40SE for less then the lowest priced CT335.

 

[sweettractors]

Based on my resend tractor shopping exercise it appears to me Bobcat prices are already climbing higher the Kioti. Granted some of prices differences appear to be the result of dealer geographic coverage. For example I was able to get three quotes for the CT335. My local dealer, which is a large dealership with multiple locations in Maine, was almost $5K more then the lowest quote I received from a small Dealer in NH. When comparing the large NH dealer with the large ME dealer the ME dealer was still 3.5K higher for the base tractor. I saw a similar but smaller price spread between the larger and small Kioti dealers. The other thing I notice was the Bobcat dealers appeared to be less interested in my business then the Kioti dealers. The salesman for the Maine dealer asked if owned or worked for a construction company, when he found out it was a private or individual sale he pushed me to a different sales associate. Communication became more difficult as a result.

From this experience I have to wonder if Kioti and Bobcat are now focusing on different markets.

The end result was I purchased a Kioti DK40SE for less then the lowest priced CT335.

Many small dealers will be glad to make 1K on a new tractor sale and the bigger guys need $2-3K profit on each sale, I don't know why this happens, unless it the overhead the larger dealer has? Ken Sweet

 

[tulenutn2o]

Many small dealers will be glad to make 1K on a new tractor sale and the bigger guys need $2-3K profit on each sale, I don't know why this happens, unless it the overhead the larger dealer has? Ken Sweet

Same goes in any business that has gotten too big. A small business owner/ single man/woman can be perfectly happy making a living whereas big companies seem to have a bit of greed take over. I will always take the smaller business over the larger one since the bigger ones have all the different salesman to go to depending on how much they figure they can wrestle out of ya. Small business made this country and will bring it back.........if not too late. One local car dealer has a slogan" price sells cars" and he's right. So why can't these larger, higher volume dealers beat these little guys on price? I understand the overhead argument too, but if it denies you sales, get rid of the guy sitting on his but drinking coffee waiting for the next sucker to walk through the door. Can you tell that I despise salesmen?:laughing: Also,Small guy doesn't have to answer to anyone but his spouse.:laughing:

 

[wade simpson]

I hope that isn't true as the Bobcat dealer is guite close while the Kioti dealer is not. I've been planning on buying the parts I need from them.

 

[doall]

no way, just look how many of you here alone have bought the cats. If there would have been one close to me thats one machine I would have definately considered. It's been huge for bobcat, they would be crazy to turn their back on the new cuts.

 

[IslandTractor]

So why can't these larger, higher volume dealers beat these little guys on price?

In my limited dealings with tractor dealers it seems that the "mom and pop" small roadside dealers are often unrealistic about competition and the need to discount. Similarly the biggest dealers with established reputations feel they can hold steady with their prices. I have found the medium sized dealer/owner to be most flexible on pricing. They do enough volume and are well aware of competition from other tractor colors/dealers but don't have the take it or leave it mentality of the largest dealers. I should note that these comments refer to New England where we don't really have lots of tractor dealerships so things may be very different elsewhere.

All's well that ends well and it is nice to see that the OP got the best tractor of all: the DK40se. Best bang for the buck out there.:thumbsup:

 

[Spudland_Dave]

Based on my resend tractor shopping exercise it appears to me Bobcat prices are already climbing higher the Kioti.

I think it has zero to do with Bobcat and everything to do with Dealer. Seen/heard this exact scenario play out with pretty much every brand depending on location.
Personally I can say the same is true when I was shopping (in Maine)... Kubota dealer was more expensive and had the "this is the price, take it if you want" attitude and JD Dealer really wanted the sale and worked with me. And I'm just talking pure financials. The overall attitude at the orange dealer in question was POOR.