Hi all,
A German dealer listed some of the prices for the LGB® Märklin line. One example: Track station expander set; old price 109 Euro; new price 149 Euro (those are MSRP).
That is a 36% increase, add to that the devaluation of the US$ and it is OOOOOOPS time!
HJ,
the economic prospects for the American dollar will be grim for a few years to come (unless a Republican ‘war hero’ gets into the oval office and finds a new war theatre to boost the economy). With the downturn in the economy, anything from Europe is going to be expensive. LGB will go back to its ‘glory’ days when the only economical way to purchase anything was in a ‘starter set’ (and European prototype).
I hate to be a pessimist but any North American prototype could be at least two years off. By then the economy will have picked up and we might be able to afford something. As far as Chinese production, then the info from Marklin is that those items manufactured in Germany at the time of collapse, will continue to be made in Germany, with other items (Chinese?) made in Hungary. This basically means that everything produced will see a price hike as the wholesale price will be expressed in Euros and not the Yen.
If the other boys in San Diego had anything to offer, other than inventory clearance stock, then one would think that they would hop on the band wagon and tell the world of their grandiose plans. Such as yet has not come to pass, so one might suspect that they are tight lipped due contractual arrangements, or in fact have nothing to actually offer. Even if Chinese production was continued, then the next five years would have seen massive price increases, such as Marklin have hinted at. With USA Trains and Aristocraft concentrating on 1/29 scale and Accucraft and Bachmann pushing 1/20.3 scale, it would be a brave manufacturer entering the market to pursue the old ex-LGB 1/22.5? scale in narrow-gauge American prototype, or that other inbetween standard gauge scale. The crystal ball does look a little cloudy when it comes to resurrecting the old American prototype ex-LGB items.Tim Brien said:
.......................I hate to be a pessimist but any North American prototype could be at least two years off. By then the economy will have picked up and we might be able to afford something. As far as Chinese production, then the info from Marklin is that those items manufactured in Germany at the time of collapse, will continue to be made in Germany, with other items (Chinese?) made in Hungary. This basically means that everything produced will see a price hike as the wholesale price will be expressed in Euros and not the Yen. If the other boys in San Diego had anything to offer, other than inventory clearance stock, then one would think that they would hop on the band wagon and tell the world of their grandiose plans. Such as yet has not come to pass, so one might suspect that they are tight lipped due contractual arrangements, or in fact have nothing to actually offer. Even if Chinese production was continued, then the next five years would have seen massive price increases, such as Marklin have hinted at. With USA Trains and Aristocraft concentrating on 1/29 scale and Accucraft and Bachmann pushing 1/20.3 scale, it would be a brave manufacturer entering the market to pursue the old ex-LGB 1/22.5? scale in narrow-gauge American prototype, or that other inbetween standard gauge scale. The crystal ball does look a little cloudy when it comes to resurrecting the old American prototype ex-LGB items.</blockquote>Tim,
Latest official out of LGB® Märklin is what was produced in Nürnberg will be produced in Györ, Hungary. What was sourced/produced in China will come from China.
It’s all in the NEW for 2008 brochure http://www.modellcentrum.de/html/neuheiten_20083.html on this page in the best English the crew at LGB could muster
http://www.modellcentrum.de/html/lgb_neuheiten_2008_1.html ( Mind you, it beats Ventilator translations any day!) :lol: :lol:
HJ,
I see it is a matter of read between the lines. Items that were currently manufactured in Nurnberg will remain in Europe (Hungary). Must assume then that the Chinese based items will remain in China (so much for all the Chinese owned(?) moulds being transported to Hungary). Rising Yen, falling dollar, similar price hikes to those expressed by Marklin. Future does not look rosy.
Tim,
Don’t forget it was Schöntag who wanted to repatriate the tooling from China. Had many people scratching their heads.
I guess you saw the note about PIKO expanding the China production? All these guys will produce where they get the best product at the lowest possible price and the see-saw is between “what price? how good a product?”. Who’s to blame? Modern transportation and communication! 
All you had to know was that as soon as Markin was awarded the package the prices would go up, its Marklin afterall, they are not know for low prices and never have been. Marklin has never seen the US market as a major focus, and I fear that will be the case now.
The German-centric new catalog indicates to me at least, exactly where they intend to focus their business attention and what models they will produce in the coming years, and it aint to do with anything here boys and girls.
Marklin can charge whatever they want. They have nothing I feel I really need. Thus if there may be something I want it will have to be at my price or no sale. As long as I can get match sticks I can build a model. I just don’t need them or any of the others and their outrageous prices.
Well guys,
My take for quite some time: “Pour another cup of tea (or whatever!), sit back, relax and see what’s coming down the pike!”
It’s not as if any of us will run out of things to do and build any time soon, is it? 
…a guy around here bought a Marklin live steamer 2-10-2, or something, sight unseen at +$3000…after seeing it, I fail to see where that $3000 went…even the Aristo steamer has more detail, and that is saying alot. The tender doesn’t carry water or fuel, oh yes it is R/C…but …
Fred,
one sees the Marklin live steamers surface regularly on eBay (‘Station 500’ in Germany). Rarely seems to be any interest.
Marklin’s live steamers are made for them by Regner in Germany. Very nice but very expensive. They do a beautifull live steam Stainz loco like the LGB one, with working drain cocks, proper Allen valve motion. Comes as a fully machined kit and costs just under $2200! The class 44 live steamer is beautifull, but not at 3K. Mike
Victor Smith said:
All you had to know was that as soon as Markin was awarded the package the prices would go up, its Marklin afterall, they are not know for low prices and never have been. Marklin has never seen the US market as a major focus, and I fear that will be the case now.The German-centric new catalog indicates to me at least, exactly where they intend to focus their business attention and what models they will produce in the coming years, and it aint to do with anything here boys and girls.
It’s strange that for the rest of the model train world Marklin has successfully represented a ‘Rolls-Royce’ image for almost 110 years, and that they still have the high-ranking position and reputation for excellence that they have enjoyed in post-war Europe and Scandinavia throughout MY life-time - places, I would respectfully remind you, with a total of almost 1/4 billion inhabitants, many of whom are ‘train-minded’ to a level that would astound even an American model railroad fan. My pal Horst, in his small apartment in Berlin, has a collection of almost eleven thousand beer cars in all scales. No locos, just beer cars…the walls are lined with them from top to bottom.
It just maybe that Marklin can’t be bothered to go on with their historically poor showing in your market place. After all, you can’t buy Mercedes-Benz quality at NewBright prices, now can you?
tac
IMHO, the problem with both Marklin and LGB is that their products seem targeted more towards collectors and not so much towards model railroaders. Collectors don’t care if their trains look like toys, and apparently consider high prices to be a selling point. Model railroaders prefer a bit more realism – and there are plenty of quality, detailed models available in the same price range as those expensive German toys.
TAC I’ve always known Marklins are highly regarded, to me its always been that Marklin has never really considered the US a serious major market or they would have a larger presence here, Marklin here has alway been hard to find, I suspect it will continue that way for some time. Marklin has other markets in its sights right now, namely Europe.
I consider that once the current stocks of US product are depleted, LGB may once again become a rare importer of European train models, not a common staple like it currently is.
Vic,
maybe the writing is on the wall for American prototype from LGB. Severe ‘scale’ competition from Aristo, USA Trains, American Mainline have seen a shift in the buying habits of the American prototype modeller. Maybe Marklin has lost interest in a dwindling consumer base.
Tim Brien said:
The economic prospects for the American dollar will be grim for a few years to comeBy then the economy will have picked up and we might be able to afford something
Now there is nothing wondeful about the European economy, but I can not think of any reason why the US Economy should improve relatively.
Perhaps neither can Marklin?
Victor Smith said:Mr Smith - Marklin has ALWAYS been Euro-centric in their outlook. They are an old German company, deeply rooted in the German psyche, and almost 99% of their production is European of some kind as well as Scandinavian. An attempt to break into the UK market a few years ago was an expensive disaster, as it was with another national icon, Rivarossi, in the mid-70's. The UK market would/could not support ANY H0 model of a British prototype.
TAC I've always known Marklins are highly regarded, to me its always been that Marklin has never really considered the US a serious major market or they would have a larger presence here, Marklin here has alway been hard to find, I suspect it will continue that way for some time. Marklin has other markets in its sights right now, namely Europe.
But as I pointed out earlier, Marklin does not actually NEED your market in order to flourish. The way it sells over here in Europe should tell you that.
There are other places in the world than America.
Belgium buys more Marklin stuff than all of you guys put together.
tac
Which is why it may make more sense to Marklin to have an independent distributing arm like LGBoA rather than continue with their own. I still believe that the US outline LGB products will eventually be reintroduced…by LGBoA. It may carry a G45 label but will be the same items. If Marklin has no interest in the US market, they are sitting on some very expensive molds that would do nothing but collect dust. I think later this year we will see a more clear direction in this matter.
So the USA doesn’t get anything new in 2008? What about existing products? I’d love to see the production schedule for 2008 not only new items but existing products. The EUR is so high against the USD at present that anything made in europe (or hungary) will be absurdly expensive in the USA. Then add in competition from other manufacturers AND the complications with LGBoA… Maybe they just wait for the USA to finish its recession and re-enter the market in a year or two.
My 2c
Les
Terry A de C Foley said:Victor Smith said:Mr Smith - Marklin has ALWAYS been Euro-centric in their outlook. They are an old German company, deeply rooted in the German psyche, and almost 99% of their production is European of some kind as well as Scandinavian. An attempt to break into the UK market a few years ago was an expensive disaster, as it was with another national icon, Rivarossi, in the mid-70's. The UK market would/could not support ANY H0 model of a British prototype.
TAC I've always known Marklins are highly regarded, to me its always been that Marklin has never really considered the US a serious major market or they would have a larger presence here, Marklin here has alway been hard to find, I suspect it will continue that way for some time. Marklin has other markets in its sights right now, namely Europe.But as I pointed out earlier, Marklin does not actually NEED your market in order to flourish. The way it sells over here in Europe should tell you that.
There are other places in the world than America.
Belgium buys more Marklin stuff than all of you guys put together.
tac
www.ovgrs.org
IMHO, LGB will once again, be primarily a manufacturer of German based model trains in large scale catering to the European market first, Asia/world market second, US and Canada a distant 3rd.
Maybe if were lucky, they will eventually continue production of the existing US profile stock, at a much higher price of course, but I seriously doubt we will see anything new over here for a very long time.
For us over here the biggest and most serious issue will likely soon become obtaining repairs and replacement parts once the “official” stock of parts starts drying up. LGBoA has already started to try building a stock of parts directly from the contract suppliers, bypassing Marklin entirely. Gee, I wonder why?