Wow - did it freeze over?

[John]

Over at MB Kleins site -

Atlas Master Series SD-60  $79.99

Kato SD-70                      $72.99
   

I never would have thought this is possible .. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big Atlas fan .. but what has changed in the SD50/60 to make them worth $80  ...

[NorfolkSouthern9708]

I always thought atlas seemed to be the more expensive brand (but by very little)....

[John]

I always thought atlas seemed to be the more expensive brand (but by very little)....

Kato was always more expensive, and seemed to hold value better on the secondary market ..

[Wlal13again]

Thats a shocker, Kato was always $10 to $15 higher than Atlas..Now if the only did some eastern roads

[inkaneer]

Over at MB Kleins site -

Atlas Master Series SD-60  $79.99

Kato SD-70                      $72.99
   

I never would have thought this is possible .. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big Atlas fan .. but what has changed in the SD50/60 to make them worth $80  ...

Probably nothing.  Some peole will tell you costs are  up.  Nobody will say profits are up.  Take your pick.  But the new release of the Trainman 90 ton hoppers are now  $12.95.  This is 30 year old tooling that just two years ago sold for $6.75-$7.95 range.  So it isn't tooling costs driving up the price.  Is it raw materials?  Yet commodity prices are down considerably.  Case in point, Nickel [99% pure] sold in June 2008 for $56,000+ /metric ton.  Today that same metric ton cost about $8,500.  So what is it that makes the Atlas Trainman 90 ton hopper worth $12.95?

[TrainCat2]

The increased standard of living in China

[Hyperion]

Time to move the plants to Zimbabwe!

At least there every year (hour, rather) the dollar buys more and more and more....

[kiwi_al]

The USD is quite weak against all markets and will be contributing to this. Look at the trend of USD vs NZD - we are seeing an almost all time high of 70 cents of USD vs NZD whereas in 2001 it was 50 cents.
Look at last years chinese yuan against this years vs USD. ;D

[sizemore]

You guys gotta understand this stuff is planned typically a year out from production. A year ago we were paying upwards of 4 dollars a gallon for gas. The comparison of Nickel a year ago to Nickel now speaks volumes, to the price lag and somewhat justifies the price we see now. IMHO I think we'll see MSRP come down which will also bring prices back into the normal price range we're accustomed (plus inflation).

As for the Trainman car thats about right MSRP of 12.95 with a store pricetag of $8.49, that increase of $1 - 2 is inflation and proportionate and still worth the money for that car when amassing a fleet (and MT still sits on the tooling they have of the very same car).

The difference in Kato price versus the Atlas price comes down to production volume. Supply equaling the demand. Kato stuff a year ago (hell make that 2 - 3 years...SD-40 and SD-40-2's!) can still be had while a large gamut of Atlas products cannot. Kato produces enough to have a stable price, while Atlas produces enough to "fill preorder demand".

On the note of prices, I went to MBK this weekend and took a gander at all the wonderful freight cars and noted that MT cars on a whole appear to have come down in sales price. I saw quite a few cars ranging from just over $10 dollars to an acceptable $13 which made those $20 gons and autoracks look expensive. I wonder if Joe can comment if there is a sales target price strategy for producing sales of MT products.

The S.

[mmyers]

A little birdie told me they don't sell out as quickly now. People who always bought 3 or 4 of a run are now buying 2 or 3 at the new higher prices.

Martin

[JDouglasFisher]

Off topic, but...

Abolish the Federal Reserve, return to constitutionally sound money, and all these problems go away.

J.

P.S. I've been thinking hard about switching to N scale because last year it was cheaper than HO, now it seems about the same.

[shawnleon]

Thats a shocker, Kato was always $10 to $15 higher than Atlas..Now if the only did some eastern roads

I second that! Us eastern folk are stuck at the kiddie table. We may eat, but it tastes a bit stale when the server finally gets to you!  :-\

Shawn

[POVC]

Well, based on discussions with all the principles at the National Train Show, a big part of the reason is that Kato controls their own factories in Japan, and so has been able to control costs (especially labor) better...

Notice that the big increases in cost of Atlas engines came last summer, when...
a. Oil hit $4 a barrel...
b. Kader bought out Sandra Kan (or was it the other way around?)...

As also noted, production volumes have a lot to do with it...while the manufacturers don't release that information, notice that MBK got in something like 12 of each Atlas SD50/60 and 50 of each Kato SD70M...

Tim

[lock4244]

The newer Atlas SD50 and SD60 models come with their independant suspension on the middle axle on each truck. You know, the feature that they won't admit to 

Oh wait, the older ones have that too.

[Chris333]

Abolish the Federal Reserve

I heard that!