I really wish they would leave all production in Germany. I would rather buy a American made Husqvarna then a Chinese Dolmar. It just seems the best quality is always from the company's origin country. Stihl, Dolmars, in Germany and Sweden for the Husqvarna and Johns reds. Guess I better take good care of the saws I have.
While I sympathize with your point of view, I think that the jury is still out on the quality of Chinese-made Dolmars. There was a period of time when Dolmar assembled the 510 in China. I have heard mixed reports about those saws. Some dealers say that they were fine, but on the other hand they decided to shift production back to Germany, which suggests that it was a failed experiment. The PS-32 has also been made in China, for some time now. They seem to be OK.
Makita seems to be rolling the dice once again. It's difficult to know whether the new Chinese-made Dolmars will prove to be reliable. I am one of the "guinea pigs", as I purchased a Chinese-made 4300/421 (thinking that it was made in Germany). I feel a bit uneasy about it. On the other hand, it's an inexpensive saw so if it proves to be a piece of crap it will be an inexpensive lesson. If you are thinking about buying a Makita/Domar, I would ask yourself a couple of questions: (1) Do you know where the saw was made? You can't assume that it was made in Germany. (2) If it was made in China, do you want to take the chance that the quality is just as good as the German-made saws?
According to the manual that came with my saw, my Chinese-made Makita is a "German quality product". That's a bit vague. If they had said that it was a "quality German product" it would be an outright lie. But they are not claiming that it is a German product, only that it has "German quality". Yeah, we'll see about that.
Doug
a Makita guinea pig