Price Check Price trends

[maryos]

Have Kubota prices gone up much over past 2-3 years? I understand they launch new models in November each year – are prices on these much more than for previous year?
If anybody has any examples, or if there are any other websites I should check, I would be very grateful.
Thank you!

 

[equipman]

Aside from the steel increases last year, it seems like Kubota prices have stayed pretty close or even gone down on some models. I think since Kubota can control the manufacture process they have a better chance to control prices.
Lewis

 

[SkyPup]

I paid less for a new L-39 TLB thisyear than what you would have paid for the L-35 TLB it replaced three years ago... hard to believe but true. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Bloomberg reported today:

"Deere, the world's largest maker of farm equipment, said last month that prices of its products will rise 4 percent for the year."

``Our price realization and what our customers are willing to pay for has been very encouraging for us,'' said Robert Lane, chief executive of Deere, in an Oct. 7 interview on Kiawah Island, South Carolina. ``That's why you see another very good profit year coming up and a lot of cash being generated.''

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">(

``Our price realization and what our customers are willing to pay for has been very encouraging for us,'' ``That's why you see another very good profit year coming up and a lot of cash being generated.'' )</font>

My, they sure are not ashamed of that fact.

 

[SkyPup]

You heard it from the horses mouth.

Time is now to purchase more Deere stock, any corporation that can generate that kind of cash year in and year out is a good buy! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[maryos]

Thank you all very much for these replies. Does this mean there were price hikes specfically tied to the steel price increases? Is this common to all the main companies in this list?

I was also interested to know whether Kubota tractors really are more fuel efficient than many others? Perhaps I need to start a new thread, or try one of the other forums?

Thanks again,
Mary

 

[SkyPup]

Steel, Iron, Plastic, Rubber, etc. have all gone UP in price significantly.

Fuel efficiency is a matter of power, gearing, and work performed, I don't think any tractor brand is inherently more fuel efficient than another.

That said, our three tractors are all 3-cylinder diesels, specifically for greater fuel efficiency than a larger 4-cylinder model.

 

[Cliff_Johns]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( "Deere, the world's largest maker of farm equipment, said last month that prices of its products will rise 4 percent for the year." )</font>

I suspect this is mostly in their ag lines of machinery. In the CUT and sub-CUT areas new products are replacing more expensive previous models with the same features. That is, prices are going clearly down for the kinds of equipment we discuss for the most part on TBN.

Cliff

 

[riptides]

Well,

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( ``Our price realization and what our customers are willing to pay for has been very encouraging for us,'' said Robert Lane, chief executive of Deere, in an Oct. 7 interview on Kiawah Island, South Carolina. ``That's why you see another very good profit year coming up and a lot of cash being generated.'' )</font>

I don't know how to take that quote from them.
The consumer in me says "Screwed"
The invester in me says "Thanks for the insight"
The corporate citizen in me says "Shut the he** up".

Is it bordering on arrogance? Or is it just my attitude?

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[maryos]

The quote above, in isolation, would imply that customers are being treated as fools and willing to pay for rubbish. In fact it made me so curious, I went to check out what he actually said! In case it is any consolation, the full comment is not quite as bad:

"We had good success in passing on value to our customers. In other words, our customers don't care about our costs, but we have been able to improve on these products in a way that our price realization and what our customers are willing to pay for has been encouraging to us."

So he is saying that customers aren't interested in whether eg. steel prices have risen, hurting Deere's margins - customers only want to know they are getting a good deal. Therefore they can't just push up prices to compensate, they have to improve on products, and add value to make the customer interested.

Is it true though? A message above implied that Kubota did levy price increases in direct response to higher steel costs. Is this actually the case for most companies generally?

Still very interested in any info about price trends, especially for Kubota or for Kubota relative to other companies. Was very interested in above remarks about prices coming down - is this the case generally for other firms as well?

Thanks again,

Mary