SARASOTA, Fla. - For the last few years, many mower manufacturers have quietly wondered why John Deere hasn't been more aggressive in its pursuit of the commercial mowing industry. John Deere's acquisition of the widely respected Dane Scag's manufacturing company, Great Dane Power Equipment, early this year seemed to indicate that the mighty green and gold manufacturer had a plan to pursue contractors' business.
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| John Deere's Quik Trak mower differs from the Great Dane Super Surfer with a different height-of-cut adjustment, a tubular frame, the 7-iron, full-floating stamped deck and a Kawasaki engine. |
That plan became a reality this week when John Deere began a five-week introduction of its 2002 product line, complete with nine configurations of three new mowers that should attract considerable attention from the landscape industry next March when shipments are scheduled to begin. A new hand-held and backpack blower were also introduced to the crowd.
"Now, there is no reason for the commercial cutters to have any color other than green on their trailors," announced Gilbert Pena, marketing manager for John Deere Turf Care, to an auditorium packed with nearly 1,000 John Deere dealers. "These are an affordable alternative to hydrostatic riding mowers that will attract a lot of contractors."
The impact of John Deere's acquisition of Great Dane was obvious as two of the three new models introduced were adaptations of Great Dane's popular Super Surfer stand-on mower and its Chariot Jr. riding unit.
The stand-on units, to be marketed as the Quik-Trak mowers, will come in three configurations:
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| John Deere dealers took advantage of the product introduction to see first hand how its new mowers perform. |
"These products are going to put John Deere in a leadership position in this emerging category of stand-on mowers," enthused Pena. In addition, John Deere personnel expressed considerable confidence that the number of patents in place for these stand-on mowers among the three manufacturers making them will exclude any other company from introducing another stand-on unit to the market for at least 15 years.
The riding mowers modeled after the Chariot Jr. will be known as the mini-frame Z-Trak, and they will be produced in two setups:
The final new mower model, known as the mid-frame Z-Trak, is a larger riding unit designed to compete in the popular and rapidly growing mid-mount, zero-turn market. The four options will include:
While each of the products has its own unique features, John Deere marketing personnel clearly focused on three primary features of its mowers: a two-year, bumper-to-bumper warranty; the use of Kawasaki engines on all mowers; and standard inclusion of the company's 7-gauge, stamped decks.
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| Numerous John Deere marketing and product specialists were on hand to explain all of the features of the new machines to dealers. |
While John Deere expressed confidence it would have additional mowers to offer for 2003, such as a 72-inch, diesel-powered unit, the potential for additional machines exists as long as the company works with the aforementioned Scag. Plus, the Great Dane acquisition brings additional strengths to John Deere.
"No one has driven the commercial mowing industry further than Dane," affirmed Dan Schmidt, product marketing manager, commercial mowing, John Deere Turf Care. "But Dane's companies have also been known for their innovativeness, how quickly they brought new products to market and how good they are with customer relations. Those are things that John Deere hasn't necessarily done well for this segment of the industry, so that will help us as well."
The Author is the editor of Lawn & Landscape magazine.
