Upfront: Tecumseh exiting engine business
By Steve Noe
Exactly one year after Tecumseh Products Company announced that it signed an agreement to sell its engine and powertrain business operations to affiliates of Platinum Equity, LLC, Dan Ariens, president and CEO of Ariens Company, announced at an Oct. 23 GIE+EXPO press conference that Tecumseh recently notified him of its plans to exit the engine business.
In response to this significant development, Dan Ariens issued the following letter to his dealers on Oct. 17 and distributed it on CD at the press conference:
Dear Dealer:
Ariens Company has been notified by Tecumseh Power Company of its plans to exit the engine business and close its engine plant effective December 15, 2008. Because the Ariens Sno-Thro® brand is closely linked with Tecumseh® Snow King® engines, I wanted to give you an update on how this will affect the current snow season and the future of the Ariens Sno-Thro® brand.
This Season
We currently have enough Tecumseh engines to satisfy current orders. In fact, we have some excess models with Tecumseh engines that are available for order. Please check with your District Manager or Customer Service Representative for details.
We have also secured Briggs & Stratton® engines for additional units this season. We expect these models will be available in late November or early December. Overall, for the balance of the season we are filling existing orders and will continue to have units available in certain models and certain horsepower engines.
Next Season
As part of Ariens new product development process, we have been evaluating new engine suppliers for the last few years. This evaluation has provided us with engine options for next year’s snow season. We will provide more information in early 2009.
Service Parts and Warranty
We are in discussions with Tecumseh to determine how service parts and warranty will be handled in order to continue to meet the needs of the millions of customers who own Ariens Sno-Thro® legacy products. I am confident there will be a satisfactory solution and hope to communicate details within the next month.
Rest assured, we are approaching this issue like any business challenge we face here at Ariens – our first priority is taking care of our customer. As a privately-held company, the customer is our single most-important stakeholder.
I believe our history in handling business challenges will give you confidence that we are working to resolve this in a way that is fair to all involved. We appreciate your patience as we make this engine transition and look forward to continuing to build our market position as The King of Snow®.
Sincerely,
Dan Ariens
When Platinum Equity’s acquisition of Tecumseh Power Company was officially completed Nov. 12, 2007, Tecumseh issued a press release that same day to formally announce the acquisition. At the end of that press release, Tecumseh stated that its Snow King engines powered “more than eight out of 10 snow throwers ever made,” so the company’s departure from the engine business will undoubtedly create a major void. How that void will be filled remains to be seen, but it ought to be interesting. Be sure to stay tuned to both OPE and www.outdoorpowerequipment.com for the latest details.
OPE Editor Steve Noe
snoe@m2media360.com
