That does make good business sense, to do away with a corporate twin brand that is not very popular. What makes no sense at all, is to replace it with a brand that has almost zero recognition in chainsaws, and most people outside commercial landscaping and mowing have never heard of and will assume is just another forgettable here today/gone tomorrow.
I think this experiment will translate into a net loss for Husky. Why not let Jonny just focus on saws and Redmax do the weedeaters and blowers? Both brands would then be in their respective areas of strength and everyone would be happy. Same with Makita and Dolmar. Let the saws continue to be Dolmar, everything else Makita.
I get what you are saying, and agree that each brand has a particular strength. But the trick here is to think outside of the chainsaw box, which few of us do on a chainsaw site. The companies like to think in terms of a complete line. Supporting different brands for different product categories is too costly and doesn't work very well.
And we have to keep in mind that they already gave Jonsered first crack at being a complete line. They made Jonsered lawn mowers, tractors, zero turns, snow blowers, and trimmers and blowers; some from Red Max. So, how'd that work out? It went nowhere. Most dealers wanted nothing to do with it, me being one of them. Jonsered is known for chainsaws and chainsaws only. Where did they expect Jonsered tractors to sell? So, Jonsered had it's chance to be something more.
The other thing about Red Max vs Jonsered, and I think this is what Randy was getting at: In some landscape markets such as here in the Northeast, Red Max is a serious, dominant, top tier brand. In many areas they are the only brand that can match Stihl in trimmer and backpack sales. And they have continued to gain share as many users prefer the strato 2 strokes to Stihl's 4-mix technology. This is huge business with huge dollars.
Jonsered on the other hand really doesn't dominate anywhere. They are a second tier brand who's days as a major player are in the distant past. They fill some holes in some areas, but they struggle just to hang on to what they have. Try to think of a Jonsered dealer who moves as many units as his local Husky and Stihl guys do? They are few and far between if any.
So, looking at the 2 brands in that context, you have to conclude that Red Max is the stronger of the two, and the better candidate to develope further. And now Red Max dealers can have some decent saws. Kind of like Echo in a way. Primarily known for trimmers and blowers, but with some good saws in the lineup.
Last, and then I gotta go out and split some wood. The competition in the big landscape markets that I referred to earlier is fierce and it involves more than just Red Max and Stihl; it's the same with the mowers. These are also fairly mature markets in the sense that the big dealers already have the big brands, and signing guys up to new brands is not too easy. Red Max is already in many of those dealers, so whether it's saws or mowers, there's an opening for the company to get some additional business in a very competitive market.
