Stihl announces layoffs

[rogue60]

Hard core saw men, only use carburetors. Those fuel injections use micro processors, that cannot be adjusted with a tiny screw driver and therefore are prone to failure in mid cut.

I'm fully convinced that if Stihl were to put a little screw head on top of the saw, with an arrow pointing to more power, that would increase sales by orders of magnitude. Of course the screw head need not be attached to anything, but would rotate freely with a Professional Only screw driver, available only thru authorized dealers.

All the gear and no idea...
Doesn’t know how to tune a chainsaw needs safe place little orange screwdriver bad!

 

[jellyroll]

It isn't parts shortage, it isn't revenue reduction. They are closing the plants that build gas powered equipment and opening plants in China to build battery powered equipment.
This has nothing to do with consumer preference. It's ESG investing forcing companies to move away from ICE products in favor of battery products.

digging their own grave.

 

[hwrdpromac7900]

You need to go back to porter school, Lol

I did for a minute.

 

[JRM]

It isn't parts shortage, it isn't revenue reduction. They are closing the plants that build gas powered equipment and opening plants in China to build battery powered equipment.
This has nothing to do with consumer preference. It's ESG investing forcing companies to move away from ICE products in favor of battery products.

The battery Saws for NA are made at the Virginia plant. They aren't selling either.

 

[bucketofguts]

I remember looking at my 028 AV Super for the first time and seeing Virginia Beach, Va. USA on the Badge. Think mine was made in 87. Holy smoke how times have changed.

 

[Chevboy0167]

He is such a nut.... LOL

 

[av8or3]

He made some points early on, but I dropped out when he started hitting on old people. Lol. So, I don’t know how he finishes up. I will look into the women he mentioned though.

 

[JRM]

I find it hard to believe Husky is stupid enough to abandon all their homeowner gas models cold turkey. Corporations claim to be green but there is nothing greener than profits, and dropping all their gas models when everyone else is still making them is giving up a massive part of Husky's market.

 

[stihltech]

It isn't a matter of stupid it is what the governments want. Battery has taken off much faster at our shop than we could have imagined. It makes a lot of sense for the homeowner that might use the unit for 1 to 2 hours a year. And nor carburetor spoiled by bad fuel.
Am I in favor of banning gas saws-NO. I can't see larger saws and pro units being battery at the present time. The present niche is the homeowner market. And yes, there it makes sense.

 

[JRM]

It isn't a matter of stupid it is what the governments want.

It hasn't been mandated yet.
I'm not disagreeing that battery will end up being the bulk of homeowner sales. But there are a lot of gas models that battery can't physically compete with. The few that can cant compete on price. It seems unlikely gas saws will disappear overnight.

 

[weimedog]

It isn't parts shortage, it isn't revenue reduction. They are closing the plants that build gas powered equipment and opening plants in China to build battery powered equipment.
This has nothing to do with consumer preference. It's ESG investing forcing companies to move away from ICE products in favor of battery products.

Bingo, Stihl in addition priced themselves out of a few markets. In reality being 20 percent more expensive in a product demographic will eventually have an impact. Only the Zealots will fork out the enthusiasm & cash over time. And yes the push to batteries is s world wide political thing, but also a practical thing, especially with how current education trends drives the population. You know else wins? Chinese manufacturing. Both on the battery & electronics front as the world "hired" them to be that central place. But also the Chinese Clone saw builders more than willing to fill the ICE hole with saws costing less than half of their inspirational OE models. It will be a few years before a "battery" product will compete with a 592, but that market is "peanuts" in revenue for a company like Husqvarna vs. those saws sold at Lowes. So the first of those companies that resize and reconfigure themselves to produce pro level saws again....survives the next ten years of "pro saw" industry upheaval. Bet as they fight, repair shop concepts modeled as mine was ( Notice it's PAST tense) do quite well as the dealerships also change over to the new battery products.

And the big money for saws is the "consumer" saw. Frankly a battery option IS a better product for most. AND the effect of service will be the "tech" is a battery or motor swapper. This trend is almost as big as horses giving way to gas powered cars and the resultant impact on the support industry for transportation. Get used to hot rod batteries instead of muffler mods and capacitors instead of nitrous

Hey, votes count and the old wisdom is the population gets the government they desire & deserve But also much to many folks chagrin, why my blue g395 experience is getting more and more relevant

 

[mountainlake]

Stihl keeps raising prices while quality goes down. Steve

 

[jellyroll]

Stihl keeps raising prices while quality goes down. Steve

Quality has been down for years.

 

[NSEric]

All my saws are clones anyway.
All the saw manufactures have been gouging people forever on larger pro saws. They are keeping them as they make a fortune off em. A 500i only cost a few bucks more to build than a 261 but cost about double to buy lol.

 

[sundance]

Note that a furlough is not a layoff. Could be a precursor however..

 

[TN Cattleman]

The trimmer season is about over and I would expect there are plenty trimmers in the pipeline for the rest of 2023. I'm in Tennessee were it doesn't get real cold for long periods, not a whole lot of firewood cut here, about every house built in the last 30 years relies on a heat pump system for most of their heat, with chainsaws mostly being used for property maintenance. I wonder how many average suburban 18-30 olds today can use a chainsaw without it being a dangerous situation. I live in a rural area and most younger adults can use a chainsaw here, but there could be a slowing of consumer saw sales.

 

[jellyroll]

Stihl put it self out with their pricing. Dealers are dropping them here over poor sales and other brands are coming in to replace them.

 

[TN Cattleman]

Stihl put it self out with their pricing. Dealers are dropping them here over poor sales and other brands are coming in to replace them.

Stihl is still doing well in this area and we have a good selection of dealers. I don't know of any dealer dropping them here. We have a few good servicing Echo dealers, but Husqvarna servicing dealers are very scarce.

 

[OM617YOTA]

Stihl is doing well here also, but Jellyroll has a point.

I bought a Stihl as a fun toy, but if I was just looking for the most practical way to cut wood, it would have been an Echo, no question. I'd expect most companies and municipalities to make the purely practical choice, not the fun one, especially if they're going for a fleet of saws

 

[a. palmer jr.]

Battery powered chainsaw might be okay for little stuff around the house but that's about it..
I'll have say though that I really like my battery powered weed eater. I'll like them better if they ever come up with a battery that doesn't weigh so much..