Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Power Tool News). This thread is read-only.
Booooooooooo. Now my least favorite grinders will also say Metabo on them.
I don’t think HIkoki would have gone over well in the USA Metabo sounds more manly and tool related.
So 2 brands will be sold in the states basically under the same name. Time for a bunch of confusion and wrong purchases if Metabo and Metabo HPT are sold at same store. They should have kept the same name and brought more REAL Metabo to more stores in North America. Bring it back to Lowes maybe even bring it to Menards.
This will confuse people. Imagine you were buying a Ryobi HPT tool, you’d think it was a Ryobi. They should have come up with something different or used Hikoki. Workers in stores will be busy explaining “what’s the difference?” to the customers :rolleyes:.
[External image (www.hitachipowertools.com), not copied]
Not a fan of an abbreviation at the end of a brand name. I think Hitabo has a better ring to it than Metabo HTP or Hikoki.
aabee wrote:
36 minutes ago, aabee said:Not a fan of an abbreviation at the end of a brand name. I think Hitabo has a better ring to it than Metabo HTP or Hikoki.
Or Metachi 😀
Honestly, I think Hitachi has a better known name for most people that would buy at that pricepoint. Hitachi always made great electronics, very high end. I don’t think the name was the problem, and this is just going to lead to confusion and might water down the Metabo name.
Somebody was saying it was to avoid kkr having to pay licensing fees, but that doesn’t sound right. I don’t see how Hitachi licensing would be any more than Metabo.
Why would Hitachi have to license its own name to itself?
That’s what confused me. Unless KKR would have to license it from Hikoki.
Stercorarius wrote:
17 hours ago, Stercorarius said:Somebody was saying it was to avoid kkr having to pay licensing fees, but that doesn’t sound right. I don’t see how Hitachi licensing would be any more than Metabo.
Hitachi is not just a tool seller. Kkr only bought the tool division not the entire company like Metabo.
Pouet wrote:
57 minutes ago, Pouet said:Hitachi is not just a tool seller. Kkr only bought the tool division not the entire company like Metabo.
Yes and no. Did a little more reading. So Hitachi Koki is a separate company that was owned by Hitachi and Koki. It was transitioning into an independent company which is why they were rebranding as Hikoki. How it works is KKR bought all of Hitachi Ltd’s and Hitachi Urban Investment LTDs shares of Hitachi Koki so now Hitatchi doesn’t have anything to do with Hitachi Koki. KKR didn’t buy any “division” they bought over 50% of the shares of Hitachi Koki. Metabo is owned by Hitachi Koki, now Hikoki. So are Hitachi power tools. KKR purchased or is in the process of purchasing the remainder of the shares of Hikoki, hence why in all the press releases they refer to it as a partnership with KKR. So I mean yeah I guess you are 99% correct. I was just confused because everyone was saying Hitachi bought Metabo and KKR bought the power tool division from Hitachi and by that organization it wouldn’t make a difference for licensing for either name as they would either own both or own neither. Metabo was never purchased by Hitachi or KKR. It was bought by Hikoki, which was controlled by Hitachi and is now controlled by KKR. Because KKR bought all of Hitachi’s shares in Hikoki. Since Hikoki is entirely separate from Hitachi they have no licensing privileges. KKR got control of a company that wholly owns Metabo and no longer has any relation to Hitachi. So when people say they bought Hitachi power tools, they are incorrect. They bought controlling shares of Hikoki which makes Hitachi licensed (temporarily) soon to be Hikoki power tools. Its no different then saying (hypothetical of course) that Bain Capital bought Ridgid and is now calling them Milwaukee and confusing a bunch of people with pipe wrenches when it should be said that Bain Capital bought tti (again not a real scenario). Why they would take a brand with brand recognition primarily in Europe to slap on American marketed tools instead of just going Hikoki is beyond me. It would be like SB&D licensing Craftsman tools as stahlwille tools here and selling them as Chinesium tools in Europe. Makes no sense to me.