|
JBjr -> RE: MOKI BOOTLEG & RE-LABELED ENGINES (9/20/2004 9:13 PM)
|
i'm posting this for my father Jim Bisson......
I have been watching this discussion for a while now and feel it is time for me to weigh-in on this subject. I think that I have a better vantage point on this mess than most. My company (Bisson Custom Mufflers) has had a long working relationship with Jim Gerard (Gerard Enterprises, Inc. MOKIUSA). With few exceptions, Moki engines have my mufflers on them. This symbiotic relationship started twelve years ago at the Toledo show when I was just starting to make mufflers and Jim was just starting to import and market the Moki engines. It was clear to Jim that in order to sell engines he needed good mufflers. It was equally evident to me, that working with Jim would help to expand our muffler business. I am privy to some of the problems that have resulted in this unfortunate current situation. The company in Hungary that makes the Moki glow engines, that we all know and love, is actually called Remek Motorok Kft. It has had this name for only a few months, and has actually changed it’s name four times in the last ten years! It is anybody’s guess as to what this was all about? This succession of companies has enjoyed remarkable growth in the US market from the very beginning with Gerard’s assistance. Within the last three years, that growth has turned to decline. Aside from any sales information from Remek or Gerard, I can tell you without question that the popularity of Moki glow engines is fading. This decline can be clearly seen from our sales of mufflers for Moki glow engines.
A few years back Jim Gerard was successful in getting the Moki line established as a high profile product line at Horizon. I should also point out that Jim helped make it possible for B.C.M. to become a successful product line with both Horizon and Hobbico. This relationship that Moki enjoyed with Horizon ended in February of this year. There were many reasons for this, such as declining sales, significantly higher (30-35%) wholesale costs. This was due to price increases by Moki and the unfavorable Euro/USD exchange rate. The decline in sales has to do with many things, not the least of which is the rapid change in interest from glow engines to gasoline engines in the Moki displacement range. Jim has continually stressed the importance of moving into the gasoline market to the Moki manufacture for many years with no real success. To date there have been only two prototype 1.80 gasoline engines tested that are basically quick "slap on a Walbro and an ignition system" conversions, that have proven to not be very impressive. Probably the biggest thing that caused Horizon to loose interest was the fact that Moki has not introduced any new products in over six years.
Because of declining demand, not only in the US, but in other world markets, Remek has decided that it would be OK to sell Moki engines, and engines with other names on them, through the back door! When you have established good relationships with your importers, distributors, and dealers, you don’t start selling your products trough some phony Canadian web site, or even worse, directly from Hungary. This kind of thing has been going on now for about a year or so, and in my estimation, is a very foolish move. Many of you will remember that Moki engines were often in short supply. This was not because Horizon, or Gerard failed to purchase enough to meet the demand, it was because the factory could not build them. Judging from our sales of mufflers to other Moki importers around the world, I would guess that about 80% of Moki’s production comes to the USA. Now with the worldwide decline in sales, the factory finds, that from time to time, they have excess engines with no customers. This is one of the reasons that things have really "hit a brick wall" The Moki folks have gotten used to the idea that no matter how many engines they make, they could sell them all to Gerard Enterprise. In the middle of July, having just received a large shipment of engines, Gerard was informed that they had another large batch ready to ship. Jim had little option but to tell them that they would have to wait a while. This apparently caused widespread panic at Moki.
Unfortunately, it has always been that the Moki company never had the operating capital to produce engines and stock them. They must sell each production run (generally 150 -200 units) in order to have the cash to build the next run! This dilemma lead to much discussion that resulted in Gerard offering to take half of the engines, and a large number of spare parts in order to help them out. Jim paid the money based on a proforma invoice and shipping manifest that was sent by the factory. The bottom line is that after waiting for the funds to arrive at their bank, they refused to ship the order, and they refuse to return the money! They are claiming that they are imposing a 50% cancellation penalty because Jim did not buy all of the engines. This is B.S. of the highest order. As it turns out now, virtually all of their other customers around the world know about this, and have refused to prepay for any orders in the future, and some have dropped the Moki line altogether. It is a strange logic that would lead somebody to rip-off his biggest customer, and then expect that his other customers wouldn’t run for the hills!
One very distressing aspect of the whole mess is that a good portion of the order that was never shipped was a lot of Moki spare parts. To me this shows a real disregard for the people that are really most important, we the Moki owners. With no parts coming in, Gerard will soon have a big problem in repairing our engines and providing parts. By the way, I notice that "moki factory" has posted in this forum that Dave Patrick Models has agreed to do Moki service work. I can assure you that this is not true, this is just a desperate bit of imagination by the folks in Hungary. One other idiotic move that these guys have made is to show on their web site that Horizon is their US distributor. I guess they think that this will impress somebody somewhere. If you follow the Horizon link you will find, as you probably already know, all Moki engines and parts have been discontinued. To wrap this up I would suggest that the Remek company is probably at the end of the line. It has been a good ride, I love my Moki engines, as I am sure you do as well. Time to buy a new gas engine and retire that trusty old glow Moki.
|
|
|
|
