How long will the re re's last?

[bfaulguy]

On Friday, I called Kyosho uSA in a futile attempt to find ANY compatable parts that will fit my vintage 1/8 scale Kyosho Vanning gas buggy. Of course, they had nothing, but I asked them if they ever planned on re-releasing any of their old kits, since Tamiya had been doing the same. The guy told me absolutely not, and that the Tamiya re-re's aren't doing very well. He further said that Tamiya is only re releasing cars because they don't have any new ideas, and their sales are slumping. Now granted, I realize this is from one of Tamiya's main competitors, but if there's any grain of truth to it the re re's could be short lived. Guess I better hurry up and get that Frog....

[Shodog]

He's right they are not selling worth beans. That's why all the Hong Kong sellers can barely keep them in stock. while some have not done so good like the Tyrell and XR311, The hornet, Lunchbox,Grasshopper and frog have been doing quite well.

Sounds like sour grapes on that Kyosho empployees part

[Nitro_John]

I think the re-releases are a good thing, especially if some of the rarer cars are re-released like the Avante which at the time was way out of my price range.

[Big Al(2)]

I don't believe him at all. The Tamiya re-re's are very hard to get, meaning that they must be selling well. The Hornet re-re has been out for a while now and Tower Hobbies can't even keep them in stock as well as the Grasshopper and Lunchbox. Kyosho definitely has a case of sour grapes!

[RETRO R/C]

When you say Kyosho - you mean that particular employee.[?]As he is surely not the company spokesman![]

I think everyone over-estimates just how popular the re-re's are. Sure - they are popular. If we are being honest with ourselves though, on the grand scale of things they really are a little "out of touch" with what is popular at the moment. NOT SAYING they are a bad thing etc etc etc - just not as massive as we all think they are. We are extremely happyu with them because we all love the old stuff and we hype them up . I hear form friends in asia that the only re-re's selling are the frog and hornet...the grasshopper is not doing so well. As for the thundershot and manta ray - they are WELL below expectations. The market is just so fickle. People want touring cars and monster trucks and things that look tough.

We hashed out the Kysoho re-re idea in the Kysoho forum. They are two VERY different companies indeed. While in competition on certain levels - the companies appear to have very different phlosophies.

Cheers

Darryn

[DeeMiller]

quote:Originally posted by bfaulguy

On Friday, I called Kyosho uSA in a futile attempt to find ANY compatable parts that will fit my vintage 1/8 scale Kyosho Vanning gas buggy. Of course, they had nothing, but I asked them if they ever planned on re-releasing any of their old kits, since Tamiya had been doing the same. The guy told me absolutely not, and that the Tamiya re-re's aren't doing very well. He further said that Tamiya is only re releasing cars because they don't have any new ideas, and their sales are slumping. Now granted, I realize this is from one of Tamiya's main competitors, but if there's any grain of truth to it the re re's could be short lived. Guess I better hurry up and get that Frog....

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Well, go talk to the Tamiya guys and they will tell you exactly the opposite.

If business gone bad, I wouldn't tell you and say exactly the opposite.

If it sells well, well...,it sells well.

So if you're not in the business yourself, you'll never know.

To be honest, I don't care.

Grtz Dee

[bfaulguy]

quote:Originally posted by RETRO R/C

As for the thundershot and manta ray - they are WELL below expectations.

Darryn

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You'd think they would've seen that coming; those cars were very blah. Never cared for them. Why did they waste a re re on those and not re re a hotshot/supershot? Makes no sense whatsoever.

[sosidge]

I would have to say that on a local level the re-re's don't seem to have taken off. The few that I have seen in local shops are hardly flying off the shelves.

A lot of the racers I know have fond memories of their first cars (Frog, Hornet etc.), but they haven't rushed out to buy one again.

They know that these cars had their moment 20 years ago. They are great memories, and great static models, but by todays standards they are poor RC cars.

Maybe the market elsewhere is different, which is why Tamiya are producing them.

To be honest, the Kyosho employees comments are not far from what I would have guessed. Tamiya are slipping out of pole position in the mainstream RC car market because they haven't got a "must-have" nitro product, and on-road electric is struggling to find new owners. They are re-releasing old models mainly for old times sake and because they can, not because it is taking the brand forward or generating substantial sales.

[Wandy]

quote:Originally posted by bfaulguy

On Friday, I called Kyosho uSA in a futile attempt to find ANY compatable parts that will fit my vintage 1/8 scale Kyosho Vanning gas buggy. Of course, they had nothing, but I asked them if they ever planned on re-releasing any of their old kits, since Tamiya had been doing the same. The guy told me absolutely not, and that the Tamiya re-re's aren't doing very well. He further said that Tamiya is only re releasing cars because they don't have any new ideas, and their sales are slumping. Now granted, I realize this is from one of Tamiya's main competitors, but if there's any grain of truth to it the re re's could be short lived. Guess I better hurry up and get that Frog....

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This guy's comments remind me of when I got my first Turbo Optima Mid in 1987. At my R/C club there was a hobby store owner who generally supplied most of the club members with their buggies and spare parts. When the Turbo Mid came out the price he was asking was significantly more than what was being asked by another store advertised in a R/C magazine. When told him I was going to buy my Mid from there instead of his shop he claimed that the Mid sold by them was an inferior version, hence why it was cheaper. Being young and slightly unsure as to what the truth was I rang the other store and asked them whether this was true...needless to say they were almost speechless and confirmed that the story was a load of bull, and I subsequently bought my Turbo Mid from them. When I had built the car I put stickers from the other model shop on it (most of the other buggies had the logos of this other guy's store on them) and from then on the local store owner hardly ever spoke to me!!

Moral of the story: Traders will always spread lies about the competition if at all possible in order to boost their own sales!

My guess is that the Tamiya re-re's are going at least as well as Tamiya hoped for, and probably even better with some of them.

[RETRO R/C]

Yes - sadly there are plenty of people with sour grapes - unfortunately thesse people dont seem to be able to deal with competition.

I am thrilled with the re-re's myself.

Cheers

Darryn

[SonicCJ5]

I hope they last long enough for me to get my Frog. As for the guy at the competition I would not listen to them.

[billg4]

quote:Originally posted by Wandy

This guy's comments remind me of when I got my first Turbo Optima... and from then on the local store owner hardly ever spoke to me!!

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I'm betting this shop went under if he behaved like that. That's even worse than "Ray's hobbies" in Warwick RI

[axemandavva]

Going back to what the Kyosho guy said, it would be kindof strange for him to say that if there wasn`t an element of truth in it ... somebody looking for a vintage part for a Kyosho car is hardly able to run away to the competition and get it from Tamiya.

[CLODBUSTERS]

blackfoot and monster beetle IMO will be out sometime in 2006 and when they do sales will be huge,im waiting tamiya!!!

[Scorcher Champ]

I don't know who this guy is that gave this info, but he sounds like the typical hobby shop owner who is fed up with the online competition. Kyosho has in fact made quite a few re-releases over the years. To name a few: The Blizzard, Optima Mid, ultima and a few of their more popular kits. These weren't re-issued 20+ years later like Tamiya, but were re-issued within a couple of years of being discontinued.

The Tamiya Re-releases have been selling rather well, but not in Store front hobby shops. 90% of store front hobby shop owners you talk to today who are honest with you, will tell you that business is bad due to the ever rising online hobby dealers. I recently looked into dealing in R/C and did some research to see if store front was better than online sales and Tamiya's retail Dept. told me themselves that most of their sales are being made to online businesses. The fact is that store front businesses have major overhead like, Rent, utilities, employees, a descent variety of inventory and a good number of other costs and therfore have to sell their kits at much higher prices than online stores. Online hobby shops just have a website that will advertise every product they have access to and will either actually have an inventory of these select products or have them drop-shipped, which means they just take the order and have a middleman supplier actually send you the item. So, it is very easy for online dealers to give great prices, which is just about always the case. Take Tower Hobbies for example. Due to the internet, their sales have gotten better and better every year making them one of the biggest online hobby dealers in the world. Even smaller online dealers like Rocausa or ultimate Hobbies have prices comparable to Tower because of their small overhead.

If you have been into this hobby for a good number of years, you can see that Kyosho was never as popular as Tamiya. If you think about it, just about every person you talk to had a Tamiya as their first car and have mostly Tamiya cars in their collecton til this day. Kyosho has always made good quality vehicles but were never as widely distributed as Tamiya. Most hobby shops or online shops will have Tamiya over Kyosho. Another good example: How many Kyosho Enthusiast websites do you see compared to Tamiya???

[mrlexan]

quote: How many Kyosho Enthusiast websites do you see compared to Tamiya???

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I could think of one potential Kyosho site, but Chris owns that name too! LOL!

[RETRO R/C]

I think the tide is turning with kyosho - particularly in the uS, as they now have local distribution - and as a result of no middle man -VERY competitive pricing. This will allow them to compete head on with tamiya in the segments they choose to.

Kyosho have always concentrated on other aspects of the hobby - not the mainstream stuff. They do it - but not at the "volume" level like Tamiya. The companies have very different markets and philosophies.

When did Kysoho re-release the Mid? Also the ultima? They used parts and chassis in later cars - but I dont beleive they re-released them -I am happy to be proven wrong if this is the case though.[]

In Japan, I dont beleive the Blizzards were ever actually discontinued - as they have been around and available in various forms for order in shops there for ages. I have been told it is just that they have increased production. One of the main reasons for this is the new u.S distribution site.

I dont think the lack of Kyosho based sites is a reflection on the brand, more a reflection on the reasons mentioned previously both here and in other threads...... : Kyosho have always been a more race orientated manufacturer and a a lot less marketing orientatd than Tamiya. Therefore alot more poeple have been exposed to Tamiya than

Kyosho - it is natural that there are more sites, as very few, (about 4 to 5% if that of the market), people race.

There can be no doubt though that Tamiya are the superstars (pun intended!!) - of the "general" R/C world as far as popularity goes.[^]

Cheers

Darryn

[theshopkeeper]

quote:Originally posted by RETRO R/C

I think the tide is turning with kyosho - particularly in the uS, as they now have local distribution - and as a result of no middle man -VERY competitive pricing. This will allow them to compete head on with tamiya in the segments they choose to.

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Same happening in the UK - having kicked Ripmax out of the equation, Kyosho are now supplying the UK from their French subsidary... we can now retail Kyosho at the price Ripmax was charging us for it only a year ago.

[RETRO R/C]

Yes mate - I heard that happening....Kyosho has finally gotten serious....it's about time!

Now if we could just get the same thing happening in Australia!!

Cheers

Darryn

[AndyB]

If the re-uns are not doing well I can think of a few very valid reasons.

1. Back in the 80's when these cars first surfaced there was little competition, now there is a ton. Granted it's not all main stream or multi national but there is still a lot more than there was.

2. Most of the re-runs were entry level or gimicky e.g. wheely machines. The truth is any kid entering the hobby now wants a high tech entry level car not 20 year old technology. So most guys buying the re-runs are older farts like me who if he hesitates for a minute will realize the folly of the purchase.

3. Most re-runs are electric and that market segment has been diluted big time in the last 10 years by nitro.

Think of it this way, The California Dream Car Co was re-running Olds 442's made of all new parts a few years back but I don't think they challenged any of the major car companies with their sales volumes.........