thanks guys!! i'm glad i changed my mind and didnt get it!! much rather have a briggs any day! :thumbsup:
Because sending your money to India feels better than China?
Reminds me of a funny story.
There is a company in India called KOEL.
They started out kind of like Massey Ferg making plows ect.
Moved into oil engines in the 30s and 40s.
Infact they still manufacture many of the same technologiocaly outdated small engines they did in the 1940s, but they also make marine propulsion diesel for ships and pumps, transfomers electrical equipment, contruction and are even in the oil buisness now.
The were laughed at for cloning so they got into bed with Briggs in the 90s. Briggs agreement allowed them access to propriatery technology.
They never cloned a Briggs product but the knolege they gained made them even stronger.
Now KOEL has driven CAT from the Indian continent and is making inroads into markets here with clones of other people engines and thanks to Briggs and Duetz they have developed engines of their own more than able to compete. Infact they have done enough harm to duetz to force them to abandon complete lines of engines they cloned.
One of my fav clones is this one,
http://kirloskarapps.kirloskar.com/kirloskar/web/13$5002.html
This humble little fellow is a rip off of a 1940 Petters design ha thas been pumped up by incorperating internal engine parts from an East German truck manufacturer. Its closest Wester relative is the Lister/Petter WPH1 diesel. The difference is this is more powerful, has been produced in greater numbers and is much cheaper.
Lister/Petter is not laughing.
They have been crushed by an Indian compnay they sold designs and technical info too.
KOEL did not buy the Briggs & Stratton corp, they got what they needed....
Some other Indian outfit did, but why?
because its a brand with a loyal following and they will make money off of it.
I could write all day about this and tell you about the different grades of engines for demostic and export from Asia and how many compnaies with a very short sighted view have been sucked into partnerships that in the end weaken them ( Honda and China for example ). And I can tell you about compnaies that resisted them ( Andoria from Poland ) that still produce their own engines and beat back the clones by not dealing with the Chinese in any form.
The lesson is if you want to be in the buisness of building anything you need to look after your home market first and be self relient. You need to involve your employees and resist the urge to outsource or you will face your former friends in the world market with clones of your own product or worse.
