OPE Manufacturers Once Again Out Score ‘All Manufacturers’

As in past years, the outdoor power equipment manufacturers as a group were ranked higher than their major line, shortline and tractor manufacturer counterparts. With a total mean score of 5.79, Grasshopper was the topped ranked outdoor power equipment (OPE) manufacturer in this year’s North American Equipment Dealers Assn. (NAEDA) Dealer-Manufacturer Relations Survey. Gold Level honors were given to Bad Boy, Echo, Exmark, Scag, Shindaiwa, Walker and Wright Manufacturing. Tractor manufacture Branson took home Dealers Choice in that category and Kioti and Yanmar also received Gold Level awards.

NAEDA’s survey allows North American dealers to rate up to 7 manufacturers they carry and collects data on their experience in 11 categories including product quality, availability and technical support; parts availability, quality and return policy; communication, warranty, marketing/advertising support; and overall satisfaction. Respondents rate manufacturers on a scale from 1-7, where 1 is “extremely dissatisfied” and 7 is “extremely satisfied.”

The 2022 report contains a list of 61 manufacturers that received the minimum number of dealer ratings required to be included in the report, including full-line manufacturers, tractor manufacturers, shortline manufacturers (see p. 46) and OPE manufacturers. Coverage of the full-line and tractor manufacturers can be found on Farm-Equipment.com. 

It is important to note that the survey results were only representative of a snapshot of dealers’ thoughts in early 2022, with the potential for results to “change relatively quickly due to a number of external factors or situations,” according to NAEDA.

OPE vs. All Manufacturers 

Over the years, dealer ratings overall, as well as for individual manufacturers, can generally be classified as “satisfied,” which would include somewhat satisfied, satisfied or extremely satisfied. In some years, as happened in 2022, there are outliers to this trend in the Product Availability category due to supply chain and wholegoods product shortages. 

Read the full article on the Rural Lifestyle Dealer website here.