Demand for Kubota CUTs up 37% this year ! ? !

Theowegian · Apr 19, 2004

My dealer friend told me today, that last years' forecast for kubota demand growth in the compact market was projected to be about 12%. However, so far this year, the demand has been about 37% over last year. A big unexpected jump!

Therefore, he says that Kubota CUTs are a tad bit more difficult to acquire than last year - due to higher demand.

If these facts are true, then does anyone have thoughts on why the demand is so high or has anyone seen evidence that there is an increased demand?

I looked at Kubota stock prices (KUB, nyse traded) and it looks pretty strong in the last year or so.

any thoughts?

dwight

Cliff_Johns · Apr 19, 2004

I can't help but think it is because so many people are reading TBN.

But if demand is really that much higher than expected, they should be running out of machines very quickly. You can't plan for that kind of consumer swing without outlaying too much cash in iron.

Cliff

cckjone · Apr 20, 2004

If that was truly the case then the law of supply and demand would dictate that prices for new CUTs would be higher than I've seen. But the fact is our local Kubota dealers are offering some pretty attractive pricing on package deals this spring.

stevenw · Apr 20, 2004

I would have to believe if Kubota was seeing this kind of demand that they would not be offering such attractive interest rates to pull people in. Just my .02 cents.

txdon · Apr 20, 2004

Therefore, he says that Kubota CUTs are a tad bit more difficult to acquire than last year - due to higher demand. 

That might be why a friend down in Houston has been waiting 3 weeks for a BX23. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Theowegian · Apr 20, 2004

Perhaps these high gas prices are contributing to this situation.???

EasternShore · Apr 20, 2004

I have been shopping for a BX23 for the last two weeks in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. I have visited three different dealers and they all had at least four BX23's ready for immediate delivery. However, they all had the same starting price of $17,250 with the 60" midmount mower. They don't want to decrease from that price. /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

JCA · Apr 21, 2004

( That might be why a friend down in Houston has been waiting 3 weeks for a BX23 )

Both local Kub dealers up here in my part of Maine have DOZENS of B23s on the lot. I asked the salesman on Monday why they had so many--how many people need a backhoe?--and he said "not enough people." Apparently, at that dealership, they overbought B23s and they're having a hard time moving them.

Jim

MessickFarmEqu · Apr 21, 2004

Yea, we have plenty of inventory too. I am not sure where that guy is getting his numbers. Sales have been very strong, particulary for the ZD zero turns. I am not sure about 37% though.

JCA · Apr 21, 2004

I wonder: are there actual NUMBERS available? Like numbers of units sold in the U.S. in a certain period? I don't know what sort of volume Kubota does nationwide.

There's a demographic trend here, apparently. People like me--small rural (and even suburban) residential landowners--are discovering tractors as a new toy/tool. What was once a tool for farmers now competes against hot tubs, gas grills, and Hummers for consumer dollars (though I actually drive an '88 F150 and have no interest in hot tubs are Hummers). I saw online that revenues at Tractor Supply were up by something like 22% last quarter. Regular folks are shopping for Carhartts and tractor parts.

I like to think of myself as someone with unusual interests--I don't watch TV, for instance, and I listen to classical LPs (remember those round black things with the grooves?)--yet it seems like I can't help being in the middle of some trend, no matter how hard I try not to be. I figure CUTs are just one of those trends that I somehow found myself in the middle of...a natural, high-dollar extension of the riding mower/garden tractor market. And, no TBN isn't the reason people are buying tractors; TBN is just another manifestation of the trend.

The fact that I just bought a tractor means that thousands of other folks--folks who wouldn't have thought of it a few years ago--just bought one, too.

Jim