old_sir_henry
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I'm probably not ready and able to shed light into this issue, first becase I don't know the internals and second I wouldn't finish in reasonable time...
When Makita bought DOLMAR in 1991 from its previous owner Fichtel & Sachs AG which in turn at that time belonged to Mannesmann AG, DOLMAR remained a more or less independant company only then owned by Makita. They kept their product range just changing the branding from SACHS-DOLMAR back to DOLMAR as it had been until mid 70s.
DOLMAR not only kept and continued its product line but its engineering facilities as well and continued to develop new products.
There have been efforts by Makita to migrate DOLMAR products into Makita directions, e.g. DOLMAR built a couple of saws in Makita colour but still DOLMAR branded that were given to dealers to expose them and test customer approval. That probably didn't turn out to well otherwise DOLMAR saws would have carried Makita teal from then on.
About that time however DOLMAR chainsaws were introduced with Makita branding and Makita colour scheme as Makita DCS-models in parallel to the DOLMAR line but were sold through different dealer networks.
However next to none original Makita products turned up in DOLMAR branding, there are no DOLMAR electric drills or circular saws. Instead more other product lines appeared with the DOLMAR brand like a line of home and gardening equipment, next to none of them developed nor manufactured by DOLMAR but badge-engineered by other companies (not necessarily Makita subsidiaries).
In retrospect it doesn't look like Makita had a long term strategy of what to do with their Dolmar subsidiary, whether to place it as a supplier for professional forestry equipment (of what DOLMAR had a long and strong history) or for home and garden machinery. Neither path was seemingly pursued consequently...
After repeatedly showing losses Makita pulled the line and extinguished DOLMAR as a self-dependant company and integrated it more closely into Makita hierarchy, naming it now "Makita Engineering Germany" thus reflecting to what had become a main purpose of the Hamburg, Germany based DOLMAR factory: A corporate wide supply of production lines.
Distribution of DOLMAR products now was handled by Makita, official manufacturer no longer was "Dolmar GmbH, Hamburg, Germany" but "Makita ... Belgium". In other markets things seem to even more confusing: In US for example, the DOLMAR brand was replaced by a new Makity product line with tangerine (aka DOLMAR coloured) machine bodies but Makita branding.
But this all was topped by Makita's decision late 2020 to stop production and sales of petrol powered equipment in march 2022.
Just my 2 pence, many of the information and opinions I cannot document since it mostly derived of personal contacts and talks with (ex) DOLMAR dealers and employees.
When Makita bought DOLMAR in 1991 from its previous owner Fichtel & Sachs AG which in turn at that time belonged to Mannesmann AG, DOLMAR remained a more or less independant company only then owned by Makita. They kept their product range just changing the branding from SACHS-DOLMAR back to DOLMAR as it had been until mid 70s.
DOLMAR not only kept and continued its product line but its engineering facilities as well and continued to develop new products.
There have been efforts by Makita to migrate DOLMAR products into Makita directions, e.g. DOLMAR built a couple of saws in Makita colour but still DOLMAR branded that were given to dealers to expose them and test customer approval. That probably didn't turn out to well otherwise DOLMAR saws would have carried Makita teal from then on.
About that time however DOLMAR chainsaws were introduced with Makita branding and Makita colour scheme as Makita DCS-models in parallel to the DOLMAR line but were sold through different dealer networks.
However next to none original Makita products turned up in DOLMAR branding, there are no DOLMAR electric drills or circular saws. Instead more other product lines appeared with the DOLMAR brand like a line of home and gardening equipment, next to none of them developed nor manufactured by DOLMAR but badge-engineered by other companies (not necessarily Makita subsidiaries).
In retrospect it doesn't look like Makita had a long term strategy of what to do with their Dolmar subsidiary, whether to place it as a supplier for professional forestry equipment (of what DOLMAR had a long and strong history) or for home and garden machinery. Neither path was seemingly pursued consequently...
After repeatedly showing losses Makita pulled the line and extinguished DOLMAR as a self-dependant company and integrated it more closely into Makita hierarchy, naming it now "Makita Engineering Germany" thus reflecting to what had become a main purpose of the Hamburg, Germany based DOLMAR factory: A corporate wide supply of production lines.
Distribution of DOLMAR products now was handled by Makita, official manufacturer no longer was "Dolmar GmbH, Hamburg, Germany" but "Makita ... Belgium". In other markets things seem to even more confusing: In US for example, the DOLMAR brand was replaced by a new Makity product line with tangerine (aka DOLMAR coloured) machine bodies but Makita branding.
But this all was topped by Makita's decision late 2020 to stop production and sales of petrol powered equipment in march 2022.
Just my 2 pence, many of the information and opinions I cannot document since it mostly derived of personal contacts and talks with (ex) DOLMAR dealers and employees.
