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Kamikuza

No more Kyosho?

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Went to the new shop I discovered last week, hoping to get a battery case for my Inferno ... my Japanese isn't very good but I'm sure he said that Kyosho are closing up shop this year :o 

Quick look turns up this: https://goo.gl/VKjH2R but nothing more...

This and the comments look a bit depressing too, if you're into Kyosho or are hoping to keep their cars running: http://vintage.dirt-burners.com/2018/06/13/the-future-of-kyosho-re-releases-in-doubt/

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58 minutes ago, Kamikuza said:

Went to the new shop I discovered last week, hoping to get a battery case for my Inferno ... my Japanese isn't very good but I'm sure he said that Kyosho are closing up shop this year :o 

Quick look turns up this: https://goo.gl/VKjH2R but nothing more...

This and the comments look a bit depressing too, if you're into Kyosho or are hoping to keep their cars running: http://vintage.dirt-burners.com/2018/06/13/the-future-of-kyosho-re-releases-in-doubt/

I too think the future for Kyosho may not look too bright, but the post by TomEG at http://vintage.dirt-burners.com doesn’t worry me at all. When he was active here on TC, he did his very best to pretend knowing a lot of what goes on inside Kyosho, but when confronted with questions, it turned out that everything was just his guesswork. Admittedly partially relatively good guesses made possible by observing the market carefully and he’s obviously an eager Kyosho fan indeed, but “inside information” from him is just wishful thinking and not rarely pure lies. After being unmasked several times and being criticized for repeatedly spamming the forum with his bragging, he left TC in rage.

In other words, in my opinion, TomEG is a completely unreliable source of information. Not because he’s without knowledge, but because you can never know when he’s telling the truth and when he’s fantasizing or downright lying.

 

With regard to the article specifically, in my opinion it’s only an attempt to disguise that his “inside information” in the past (promising specific re-releases from Kyosho, including the Turbo Optima), was pure speculations/dreams/fantasies/lies (what a surprise!! ), now pretending that the re-releases he “knew” about have been “cancelled”. In fact, this is pretty typical for the “insiders” out there. Bragging about having access to “inside information” by for instance telling about future (re-)releases, and when their guesses turn out to be wrong, instead of admitting that they didn’t know anything for sure, they brag again with “inside information” about the “promised” (re-)releases being “cancelled”.

 

As you probably can read between the lines, I’m sick and tired of people like this. They do nothing good for the hobby and are a really pita for enthusiasts who try to get correct information. And as mentioned in several threads about this topic in the past, it defies pure logic that a company like Kyosho or Tamiya would share inside information about future products with complete strangers months or even years in advance, while simultaneously being energetically secret about it towards the major groups of customers. After all, it’s common knowledge, almost completely regardless of the type of consumer product that sharing information about future releases with the customers (too) early, has a negative effect on short term sales figures.

 

Also, during the many years I worked for a Tamiya country distributor, I never could get my hands on even the tiniest bit of inside information event though I was as crazy about gathering information about anything related to Tamiya as I’m now.

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They’ve just released a new 1(8 off-road platform, and have signed some new talent, don’t think they’re going anywhere

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There is no doubt Kyosho have been struggling. The article referenced above sites poor domestic sales as its main financial issue. In real world terms if re-releases are good for domestic sales they will continue, if they arent then any restructure will concentrate on what makes the company money in the short term.

I doubt they will wind up but they will probably have to change their product line to cope. Tamiya does this well with all sorts of other lines like realistic food, the mini racing series etc. RC is just a small part.

On my part as a collector I like some of the older Kyosho and have been collecting some but nothing in the newer range (excluding re-releases) has caught my head for many years. It would appear that Kyosho has concentrated on Mini-Z as thats probably what brings in the money domestically.

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The new MP-10 would suggest they’re going nowhere. Granted you could have been developing a new buggy and be so far down the track you had to release it, but generally, if you’re going into receivership then 3rd parties come in, appoint interim CEO, halt all operations and start to sell assets off and manage debt. 

Lets hope they’re fine and going nowhere. The world doesn’t need less wonderful model companies. Especially ones as good as Kyosho.

 

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Yeah, the Faker Mk2 Rage was released only in late December last year: http://rc.kyosho.com/en/rccar/epoffroad/34411t1.html

Domestic sales ... 10 years ago, my buddy and I went out for a bash with our nitro buggies and the next time I saw an RC car ($20 Toys R Us thingy) was the park just last week.

There's a couple of little clubs for RC aircraft but it's old fellas flying. Kids here are literally in school from dawn to dusk, have mad school work to complete, and if they aren't doing that then they're banging away in school club activities that they'll just give up on when they finish school. If the kids actually live in a house, then there's no yard/garden and it's probably just big enough for the building and a carpark, and the local park will have strict rules about what is allowed -- and if it's not on the officially approved list, then it's banned.

It's a poor outlook for out-of-doors hobbies :(

Oh I tell a lie -- when we played roller hockey in the carpark at the river (also on the banned list) we used to see some 20-something guys with the drift RC cars...

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Its a shame isn't it?

In recent years I wished I had collected and restored more Kyosho. I have a few in my showroom, currently working on a Stinger Mk2 and have an RS200, Vanning and a nitro Nikon Pajero to do. Something about this era is "right" in my eyes with Kyosho but put more modern kits next to each other and the Kyosho kits have never looked quite as good. If you are an Optima fan then you are happy as a pig in the proverbial! 

I'm not talking how they run here, just the aesthetics. The bodies have never looked quite as good as Tamiya, slightly off scale with not quite as good decals. maybe thats unfair and they run better than they look but........

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The new Kyosho Outlaw Rampage is probably one of the more underrated RC that was released in the past several years. Pair it with a cheap gyro and it's a real blast.

Tons of suspension travel, great geometry, cool and unusual chassis, solid rear axle with motor attached and super nice retro looking shell.    

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Yeah I'm hoping that this is indeed a load of old cobblers.
I, like many on here I suspect, have a dirty little secret in the form of a Kyosho car or two. I'm careful about it and try not to let my Tamiya cars know.

And I am still hoping they'll re-re the original Ultima.

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12 hours ago, Pablo68 said:

still hoping they'll re-re the original Ultima

Fingers crossed,

That'll be a winner! 🤞

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Hmm, snooping around the hop up pages, there's an increasing number of items "out of stock", and the motor fan thingy, which was the only part not in stock since I started looking ... is still out.

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I'd be extremely sad if this were true, since Kyosho were always my brand BITD.

I heard a story on this very site that Kyosho's rerelease programme was so slow because unlike Tamiya – who have a vast catalogue of old RC models they can reissue with little fuss to a large and loyal fanbase – Kyosho inexplicably destroyed all the tooling for most of their famous 80s and 90s kits at some point in the past. This is why their rere schedule has been so sporadic and why their reres are actually redesigns which aren't always 100% retro-compatible with the originals.

It would also explain why such sought-after models as the Mid, the early Lazers and the Ultima II have not reappeared – cash-strapped Kyosho are caught between needing the income from their most desirable past models to stay afloat and having to lay out significant sums to redesign the wheel in order to get it.

Can anyone confirm if this is actually true, or definitively refute it as a nonsenical rumour? I must confess that although I can understand there might be good reasons why a company would destroy old tooling for their products, I have never really understood why a company in Kyosho's position would do so.

 

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^^ I heard the other day that they are gonna re-release the Turbo Optima, and if sales of that go well, then next on the list will be the Ultima. Here’s hoping, now everyone make sure they get their Turbo Optimas pre ordered :P

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On 1/27/2019 at 9:26 AM, mtbkym01 said:

I heard the other day that they are gonna re-release the Turbo Optima

Heard the same,and I would say very likely, as it's 'just' an Optima with a couple of goodies?

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My FB feed is crawling with pics of the new TO. Looks lovely to me! A new Ultima next year and then a Mid please Kyosho! :-)

 

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Yeah I had a feeling that guy was stretching the truth a bit, trying to get me to buy Tamiya :D

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fwiw Kyosho downunder is now being handled by Hobbies Australia and they had some kits on display at our recent annual trade fair. 

then again HA also handles HPI... fwiw! :D

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