Lowgear wrote:Tamiya comes across to me now as a company that can no longer come up with any new ideas that are good so they're just going to re-release all their old models again in hopes they can still capitalize off their past success. Exactly like what the movie industry is doing.
i kinda disagree with that in part.
Ive thought about it, and whether or not tamiya re-released these models for this reason is unknown to me... but i believe the reason, at least in part, is this...
First RC is basically a dying industry, kids want to play console games, not bash RC cars anymore. I believe tamiya's demographic has always been children getting started in RC, with the small percentage of racing that they do. If children arent buying RC Cars anymore like they did in the 80's, they need to expand their demographic, to the people who bought these cars originally, 25-40 year olds. and i think it was a brilliant move on their part...
i believe tamiya is selling a ton of these models and making a huge profit to sustain their RC Division in a tough era right now for RC. PROBABLY with molds they already had left over, along with all the tooling and schematics needed (like rough rider/scorcher, hotshot, frog, grasshopper, fast attack, holiday buggy was a wreck but i think it sold strong)..
I mean tamiya releases a ton of junk, fire dragon? keen hawk? etc etc., but i think its a great move to get people back into RC possibly, and sales seem strong... how many frogs do you think tamiya has sold since they re-re'd it. probably a ton.
U look at other companies like Associated, now thunder tiger, and wonder why they dont re-produce the RC10 Gold Pan as a original collectors edition car?? i dont know... i think the HARDEST part of that would be re-making the chasis/nose/motor plates... everything else could be injection molded, and since those molds are probably going to be made in china, and costing absolutely nothing in china to make, i think it would be a great move for them.. associated has almost completely gotten away from RC buggies, even though they won the worlds this year, they still have yet to release a B5 buggy, and with losi releasing the 22, kyosho releasing a SP worlds edition RB5, and the durango buggy coming out soon, what the heck is associated waiting for. i doubt they even have a buggy in the works..
Kyosho would probably see a TON of sales on re-re's, I would start with the Ultima Rollcage Mk1 model, then a Turbo Optima, then a javelin, then maybe a later model ultima like the pro. Hell if they did a scorpion or tomahawk too they would probably sell a ton... there is really very few parts for a scorpion and tomahawk, most of it is mold pot metal, and a few injection molded peices.. Even trany case and arms and molded pot metal...
Would it hurt the collectors? Sure, just their feelings... If you are collecting RC parts for financial investment, u need to expand your portfolio tommorow... I collect and restore cars, and spend too much $ on them sometimes.. If i had a collection of 10 javelin's worth thousands and kyosho re-re'd them, well too bad for me.. Prices are crazy on some of these parts now anyway, last javelin cage i saw sell was over $300 i believe.
Anyway rant over, i think tamiya did the right thing... Remade vintage cars to appeal to the only demographic that still buys RC cars, the 25-40+ generation.
