Deere partners up with Honda

[THALL10326]

Look like folks will soon be able to go to a JD dealer, grab a Stihl chainsaw, trimmer or blower, a Honda push mower, power washer or generator and pull em home with a JD tractor and wagon. John Deere, Stihl and now Honda all under one roof, interesting..

Honda, Deere Enter Agreement

 

[THALL10326]

Great. If they can service what they sell.

Interesting read by Honda on the agreement. Looks like service is exactly what they are after with Deere....

 

[Gologit]

Might be okay if they have the service and parts to back up the product. Our local JD dealer is great on tractors but absolutely sucks when it comes to Stihl service. No parts, no saw mechanic, and no apparent interest in doing anything but selling. And the selling isn't anything special...basically the same prices as the local saw shop.

Tommy, isn't there some kind of minimum standard for Stihl dealers regarding parts availability and service?

 

[Under_Pressure]

So no more Deere branded push mowers I guess. They had a long history there- the other OPE in Deere colors (tillers, snow blowers, etc.) seemed to come and go depending on how they felt at the time.

 

[THALL10326]

Might be okay if they have the service and parts to back up the product. Our local JD dealer is great on tractors but absolutely sucks when it comes to Stihl service. No parts, no saw mechanic, and no apparent interest in doing anything but selling. And the selling isn't anything special...basically the same prices as the local saw shop.

Tommy, isn't there some kind of minimum standard for Stihl dealers regarding parts availability and service?

Sure is Bob, well I should say use to be, I'm not all up to date on how they set up dealers now. When I got in the biz we had to take on ALOT of standard parts, that was a long time ago though. How it is now I'm not all the informed about. One thing is for certain, JD dealers like your speaking of isn't good, no excuse for that non-sense. Ya gotta have some parts on hand to repair anything. Nothing ticks off a customer faster than telling him well I gotta order that sprocket or whatever, common wear parts should be in stock, people aren't keen at all on waiting, me included..

 

[THALL10326]

So no more Deere branded push mowers I guess. They had a long history there- the other OPE in Deere colors (tillers, snow blowers, etc.) seemed to come and go depending on how they felt at the time.

Good point. Seems these big name companies are teaming up to get alot more brand reconition under one roof. All three are heavy hitters in their product line up, worldwide reconized names. I can only wonder how Deere dealt with the Honda pricing compared to what HD pays for them, I would have loved to have heard that conversation...

 

[Jacob J.]

Depending on which tier the dealership is in, they're supposed to have a minimum inventory and at least one Silver or Gold level technician. I know the standards have changed though. One of our local dealerships that was formerly a full-time Stihl shop recently took on John Deere, Kawasaki, and Echo. So now the Stihl part of their business is minor, very minor. They don't parts for anything and they've let go of two of their formerly Gold certified techs.

 

[STIHLTHEDEERE]

So no more Deere branded push mowers I guess. They had a long history there- the other OPE in Deere colors (tillers, snow blowers, etc.) seemed to come and go depending on how they felt at the time.

from what i have read from deere side in emails and bullitens, they have finally decided to quite trying to build/market/sell that sort of product. everytime they do, they shoot themselves in the foot. they mainly done it for the last several years so a guy can have a green saw/tiller/blower/ect. i also know for a fact that the selling of mowers at lowes/home depot is not doing well, and pissing off dealers to no end as well. from what i have seen heard,there may well soon be a day where all they build and sell the high end l&g/commercial mowers, and i mean $5000.00 and up. that would be the x-300 series and up. sorry, did not mean to high-ject this thread, good post THALL.

 

[Gologit]

Sure is Bob, well I should say use to be, I'm not all up to date on how they set up dealers now. When I got in the biz we had to take on ALOT of standard parts, that was a long time ago though. How it is now I'm not all the informed about. One thing is for certain, JD dealers like your speaking of isn't good, no excuse for that non-sense. Ya gotta have some parts on hand to repair anything. Nothing ticks off a customer faster than telling him well I gotta order that sprocket or whatever, common wear parts should be in stock, people aren't keen at all on waiting, me included..

Yup.. I'll try to avoid an "old guy rant" here. The JD dealer I use has been around for a long time. Lots of old time counter people and mechanics. Great service on anything green that works in a field or in the woods.

The dealership was bought out by a chain of other dealerships. They started carrying Stihl. I though that was great. I went in to buy some filters and thought I'd stock up on bar nuts and oil and sparkplugs and such for the saws. No bar nuts. None. No Ultra oil. No sparkplugs. I should have had a clue when the kid who was designated as the "official Stihl parts guy" started to look up the part number for the bar nuts to see if he had any in stock. I told him not to bother. I asked if they had a saw mechanic and he said that they were looking for one but they were hard to find and wanted as much money as the real mechanics out in the shop. That did it...I was out of there.

I went back to my favorite little Ma and Pa saw shop, clear across town but worth the drive. They have a bowl of bar nuts on the counter, kinda like peanuts at your favorite tavern. Didn't have to look up any parts numbers for sparkplugs either. What they also had were half a dozen saws...in for repair...from the JD dealer.

I'll still use the JD dealer for my heavy equipment stuff but if the rest of the JD clan is like the one here I don't see them having much success. Maybe the homeowners will buy there but maybe that's JD's focus anyway.

 

[THALL10326]

from what i have read from deere side in emails and bullitens, they have finally decided to quite trying to build/market/sell that sort of product. everytime they do, they shoot themselves in the foot. they mainly done it for the last several years so a guy can have a green saw/tiller/blower/ect. i also know for a fact that the selling of mowers at lowes/home depot is not doing well, and pissing off dealers to no end as well. from what i have seen heard,there may well soon be a day where all they build and sell the high end l&g/commercial mowers, and i mean $5000.00 and up. that would be the x-300 series and up. sorry, did not mean to high-ject this thread, good post THALL.

Good post there and I was wondering about alot of what you said. I found out recently our nearest JD dealer is about to take on the Stihl product line after selling Echo for as long as I can remember. They is no threat to me, fact if they become a problem and dip into my sales I'll just torch their dayumm place, already told my rep I would,LOL Seriously though I've oftened wondered how Echo, Honda and other name brand dealers feel about HD digging into their sales. I do know at Snapper the dealer backlash was so bad Snapper had to get out of Wal-mart altogether. It says in the write up Honda will continue to sell through HD so with Deere getting the Honda line up now a fuss may soon be created down the road, gonna be interesting how that plays out..

 

[Log Hogger]

Hmmm. All the JD dealers around here have sold Honda mowers for years.

My JD mower is awesome, except for the POS BS engine. So last year when that engine crapped out (due to a stupid design of the air housing breather hose attachment) I repowered it with a Honda GX engine. It was a little tricky, I had to make a stepped key to fit the JD blade adapter on the Honda shaft, and get a larger pully for the transmission since the Honda engine spins faster. The extra work was worth it, now I've got a JD mower body with a Honda engine that will probably still be running when the deck rusts out.

 

[Jacob J.]

I asked if they had a saw mechanic and he said that they were looking for one but they were hard to find and wanted as much money as the real mechanics out in the shop. That did it...I was out of there.

That's hilarious, considering the time and monetary investment a Gold technician has when reaching that level. Most Gold technicians are worth decent coin. They can usually beat the service manual's "suggested repair times" by a good 30-40% and they diagnose a lot of stuff before even tearing into a machine. A lot of Silver techs I know are just as good or almost as good as the majority of Gold techs and will also make a lot of money for a dealership.

 

[THALL10326]

Yup.. I'll try to avoid an "old guy rant" here. The JD dealer I use has been around for a long time. Lots of old time counter people and mechanics. Great service on anything green that works in a field or in the woods.

The dealership was bought out by a chain of other dealerships. They started carrying Stihl. I though that was great. I went in to buy some filters and thought I'd stock up on bar nuts and oil and sparkplugs and such for the saws. No bar nuts. None. No Ultra oil. No sparkplugs. I should have had a clue when the kid who was designated as the "official Stihl parts guy" started to look up the part number for the bar nuts to see if he had any in stock. I told him not to bother. I asked if they had a saw mechanic and he said that they were looking for one but they were hard to find and wanted as much money as the real mechanics out in the shop. That did it...I was out of there.

I went back to my favorite little Ma and Pa saw shop, clear across town but worth the drive. They have a bowl of bar nuts on the counter, kinda like peanuts at your favorite tavern. Didn't have to look up any parts numbers for sparkplugs either. What they also had were half a dozen saws...in for repair...from the JD dealer.

I'll still use the JD dealer for my heavy equipment stuff but if the rest of the JD clan is like the one here I don't see them having much success. Maybe the homeowners will buy there but maybe that's JD's focus anyway.

Good post Bob. I gotta be carefull how I put this but I had a discussion about Stihl being at Deere awhile back. Anyone that thinks Deere is really focused on small handheld power equipment is wrong, they aren't and for good reason, $$$$$$$. Lets face it, a 1000.00 Stihl saw is peanuts to a outfit that makes and sells equipment costing over 200 grand. I'm not sure what the focus is with Deere teaming up with Honda and Stihl. I see and understand Stihl and Honda's point but I don't quite understand Deere's point, they never have been big player in the small equipment biz because thats not their core business. It seems to me to be all about gaining more brand recontion than anything else....

 

[Guido Salvage]

Deere put out a press release on this over 5 weeks ago, I stumbled across it on their website when I was trying to get some information on their Gator line.

Deere Dealers to Sell Honda Products in U.S.

I have a friend who owns an IH dealership that his father bought in 1944. At one time there were numerous other tractor dealers in town, Ford, JD, Moline, etc. and he out survived them all. He had an IH truck franchise up until the late '70's and gave that up. In addition to Case IH, he also sells Kubota, Bush Hog and Alamo mowers.

However, about 15 years ago he started diversifying away from Ag equipment and getting into the homeowner business. He carries Husky, Honda, Gravely, Polaris, Yamaha, Wells Cargo trailers and even G-3 boats. Even though he is in a fairly rural area, far more of his income is derived from sales of lawn and garden equipment that his Ag equipment.

Some forward vision on his part probably saved his business and will allow him to pass it on to his son.

 

[THALL10326]

Deere put out a press release on this over 5 weeks ago, I stumbled across it on their website when I was trying to get some information on their Gator line.

Deere Dealers to Sell Honda Products in U.S.

I have a friend who owns an IH dealership that his father bought in 1944. At one time there were numerous other tractor dealers in town, Ford, JD, Moline, etc. and he out survived them all. He had an IH truck franchise up until the late '70's and gave that up. In addition to Case IH, he also sells Kubota, Bush Hog and Alamo mowers.

However, about 15 years ago he started diversifying away from Ag equipment and getting into the homeowner business. He carries Husky, Honda, Gravely, Polaris, Yamaha, Wells Cargo trailers and even G-3 boats. Even though he is in a fairly rural area, far more of his income is derived from sales of lawn and garden equipment that his Ag equipment.

Some forward vision on his part probably saved his business and will allow him to pass it on to his son.

Welp you just answered my thoughts on Deere's point of view in all this, makes sense, good post!!!!

 

[THALL10326]

That's hilarious, considering the time and monetary investment a Gold technician has when reaching that level. Most Gold technicians are worth decent coin. They can usually beat the service manual's "suggested repair times" by a good 30-40% and they diagnose a lot of stuff before even tearing into a machine. A lot of Silver techs I know are just as good or almost as good as the majority of Gold techs and will also make a lot of money for a dealership.

Your on da money but the best of the very best are guys like you and ole Lakeside, hands on learning through the years. Ya ever hear from that ole cat Jacob?, I knew you and he were pretty good buds. If there's one thing this board lost thats really obvious to this day are all those information posts by ole Lakeside. You two guys together putting up info posts sure has saved alot of folks alot of money, good job!!

 

[indiansprings]

I see it as a consolidation move, John Deere has taken a position were they are trying to consolidate dealership ownership. They would like to do away with the one little individual owned dealer. All but one dealer in our area has been bought up by companies/families that now own four to five or more dealerships, Deere is mandating what they must inventory. It's great for Honda and Stihl they get more exposure, not many Honda mower's at Honda dealers around here. Deere has always struggled in the push mower, power washer, tiller, chainsaw market, they have a one of the most loyal brand followings there is, having Stihl and Honda equipment in their dealerships, it will give them more foot traffic, give them a chance to sell customers up on riders and small compacts. Face it, they have realized doing business with big box stores is not profitable and also hurts the brand equity, must sell lower quality goods to hit price points, no service, brand gets hit with customer's poor expeirence at big box store. This will allow them to back out of the big box store, control cost and protect brand image. Husky should be paying attention, stock is worth about half of what it was in March.

 

[THALL10326]

I see it as a consolidation move, John Deere has taken a position were they are trying to consolidate dealership ownership. They would like to do away with the one little individual owned dealer. All but one dealer in our area has been bought up by companies/families that now own four to five or more dealerships, Deere is mandating what they must inventory. It's great for Honda and Stihl they get more exposure, not many Honda mower's at Honda dealers around here. Deere has always struggled in the push mower, power washer, tiller, chainsaw market, they have a one of the most loyal brand followings there is, having Stihl and Honda equipment in their dealerships, it will give them more foot traffic, give them a chance to sell customers up on riders and small compacts. Face it, they have realized doing business with big box stores is not profitable and also hurts the brand equity, must sell lower quality goods to hit price points, no service, brand gets hit with customer's poor expeirence at big box store. This will allow them to back out of the big box store, control cost and protect brand image. Husky should be paying attention, stock is worth about half of what it was in March.

I'm getting a better picture now of Deere's point of view in all of this, make more sense to me now. You are very correct about Deere having a huge following. Around here if your tractor isn't green and yellow its not considered a tractor. Just about every single farm owner I deal with wears that JD hat. He'll take my Stihl hat but apparently he gives it to someone for that JD hat stays on his head, which of course is why I stopped offering hats to them a long time ago,haha

 

[ncfarmboy]

Deere put out a press release on this over 5 weeks ago, I stumbled across it on their website when I was trying to get some information on their Gator line.

Deere Dealers to Sell Honda Products in U.S.

I have a friend who owns an IH dealership that his father bought in 1944. At one time there were numerous other tractor dealers in town, Ford, JD, Moline, etc. and he out survived them all. He had an IH truck franchise up until the late '70's and gave that up. In addition to Case IH, he also sells Kubota, Bush Hog and Alamo mowers.

However, about 15 years ago he started diversifying away from Ag equipment and getting into the homeowner business. He carries Husky, Honda, Gravely, Polaris, Yamaha, Wells Cargo trailers and even G-3 boats. Even though he is in a fairly rural area, far more of his income is derived from sales of lawn and garden equipment that his Ag equipment.

Some forward vision on his part probably saved his business and will allow him to pass it on to his son.

Jones Tractor Co. in Thomasville, GA (where I used to do business before I moved to the Mtn's in NC) did the same thing. There lawn & garden is 5 times what they do in ag sales. It's so good they opened another store in Tallahassee, FL 25 mi. from Tville. Again forward thinking.
Shep

 

[STIHLTHEDEERE]

Great posts here guys, good healthy conversation for all. Having married in to a deere family some 17yrs ago, i hear more about this than i care. Sometimes i here things i don't care to. My wife's family started out with one dealership in the 40's, and through attrition and aquisition?, they now have 9 stores. Make no mistake about it, deere is pushing this hard, sometimes even playing dealers against each other. Deere used to have set sales terrritory, and now any dealer can sell anywhere. Caterpiller can/will pull your franchise for such activty. Deere wants people to come into the store and get everthing they need. They now will have all the premium brands to ensure that. You are supposed to be able to buy tools, clothes, oil, grease, powerwashers, mowers, commercial, and ag equipment. They have figured out that THEY can make more money buy selling someone else's premium product, verses marketing their own. They knOW their moneY makers are ag & construction equipment, everything else is just a necessary evil.