New Offerings from Lowes?/ what's going on at Hitachi?

[johnny means]

I'm just going to park this here.

[Andrew Howe]

Should I buy more tools than now that the Hitachi green sort of matches the green of the Festool line

[Jamie Buxton]

Metabo is/was a long-time German tool maker. For quite a while, Hitachi has been building some or all of Metabo tools. A couple years ago, Hitachi bought Metabo. Hitachi merged the two tool lines, and, oddly enough, decided to market everything under the Metabo name. I'd have thought the Hitachi brand name would be more valuable.

[Doug Garson]

The website on the banner just takes you to the Hitachi tools available at Lowes, no mention of Metabo that I can find.

[Dave Sabo]

Hitachi had a loose partnership with Metabo already before the deal was inked in 2016. They did not make anywhere near all of Metabo gear. Not even close.

The Metabo brand is waaaaay more valuable in Europe , which is principally why Hitachi Koki wanted to buy in the first place. They wanted to expand there , and buying an estsblished brand is much easier than building up your own foreign brand name. Metabo’s concrete tooling has always been better than Hitachi’s

in Asia, Hitachi is more well known. In the U.S. I think it’s a tossup, but my guess is both names will continue to be sold through different channels.

[Richard Shaefer]

Hitachi used to be the go-to name brand for miter saws and nailers around here, and then their tool design went from clean industrial to all rubbery and swoopy and ugly. Now, they're pretty much a Lowes house brand. Smart move to swap brands. B&D did it decades ago when DeWalt was just an on-the-rocks radial arm saw brand and B&D brand was a joke. I think I still have some old B&D 'Industrial' tools lying about that are DeWalts in a different color.

[Jacob Reverb]

Metabo makes some of the most-sought-after (and highest priced) angle grinders in the welding world...

[Frank Pratt]

And I thought Hitachi had been bought out by some 3rd rate running shoe company, at least judging by the hideous looks of them.

[johnny means]

I always think H.R. Giger when I see newer Hitachi Tools. We've got an SCMS at work that would require a master carver to make a new zero clearance plate.

[kent wardecke]

Should I buy more tools than now that the Hitachi green sort of matches the green of the Festool line
Yes, need you ask.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hitachi reminds me of Taurus pistols.....better than a sharp stick in the eye..

[Jon Crafting]

I'm sure this is off topic, but I find it ironic that Hitachi, a Japanese company, owns the Metabo line. Metabo is slang in Japanese (http://lmgtfy.com/?q=%E3%83%A1%E3%82%BF%E3%83%9C) for someone with metabolic syndrome and would be akin to calling someone fat or obese.

-Jon

[Dave Sabo]

I’ll bet they aren’t going try and ramp up the Metabo line there amymore than they’ll push Hitachi in Europe.

Ownership is an entirely different thing than marketing