HPI USA purchased by Hobbico
 

http://www.neobuggy.net/2013/02/14/h...pi-usa-assets/

How long till the other sections?

Hpi logo already on the hobbies website!
Be a bit odd if hpi Europe follow as that would put Jason deardon under the same company he use to run.
Crazy!
:woot:

According to our sources the deal is limited to HPI USA and does not relate to HPI EU or Japan.

Correct, but how long till they take up the other divisions.

Always thought Hobbico would be acquiring other brands.. Nitro engines and electrical brand soon..

Christ next they'll be building a deathstar!

I thought all design and the core of the business was USA based?

That's in progress... Kickstarter Deathstar

I hope though that through this partnership we might get to see a 1:10th comp buggy :D

J

I wonder how much they want to compete against themselves though? They already own Team Durango.

May this explain why Hara was racing a 410 at the Reedy race?

Why dev one if there is already the TD car..?

Because if its hpi then it's always good :D

The biggest aspect of that news story to me, was suggesting HPI were/are in financial trouble. And they aren't a small business. Worrying.

If that were the case I think it's because they don't have any race spec gear apart from the blitz ESE and their biggest selling point which is the savage hasn't really changed in the 10 or so years, only a few variations and changes, they havent released a new model since the baja, sure there have been a couple but they havent really taken off, personally I honk they should release a range of race spec cars.

Also I'm guessing this includes the purchase of maverick and hot bodies?

:eh?:

You only need to check HPI USA website to see there are minimum of 25 recent products listed in the new cars section and 47 different car products available... none of those are 10 years old? in fact none of those are 2 years old and they are all aimed at general consumers over racers!

Racing is a very small market compared to the bashers/general consumers market across the worldwide r/c car industry and the racing market in USA has been dominated by Team Associated and Losi for several decades with heavily loyal supporters.

Sure i've seen 5% mentioned for size of race market compared to general consumer market, that may just be in UK though.

You can't use an opinion based on the UK market and our product preferences to guess at how a company performs in a country something near 40 times larger!

Sad to think that the big established companies are being hit badly but facts are there is a global economic issue and hobbies/toys are luxuries.

I wouldn't have thought the Ken Block license was cheap, they've been really pushing that one to the world, certainly can't knock their marketing!

That was my first thought too, and not only KB, but Vaughn Gittin Jr, Scion, Ford and M-Sport, and others. Its a lucrative market and HPI have been trying hard to keep up with the monumental marketing department of Traxxas.

As far as I know, Hot Bodies is HPI USA whereas Maverick was setup by Mirage, now HPI Racing UK.

I was referring to the hpi europe mark, most of the 'new' releases just seem to be updates or rtr versions, there was the trophy cars, apache and mini savage but that's all I can think of that are new cars, the ken block scion and Vaughan gittin jnr gear just seems like similar cars with different shells and wheels

Their product update cycle isn't any worse than others in the 'bashing\general' market - Traxxas and Tamiya as specialise in 'new' models that are just rehashes of old platforms.

Genuinely new products are normally released when they need to be - in the racing market this tends to be more frequent as the driving force is to be competitive. When your car gets outclassed it get replaced. If it doesn't get outclassed - well the B4 is a decade old!

In the case of HPI USA I would expect the problem is the US market is a tough one to crack. Losi and AE have the racing market sewn up as mentioned with loyal die hard fans of each. In the bashing market HPI has to compete with Traxxas in its home market, a market well known for support domestic brands.

I'm sure if the bankruptcy nonsense was true...HPI USA would not have resigned a whole works race team for the 2013 season, not to mention Hara until 2016!!. That's the first thing you get rid of. I'm sure HPI will release a full statement with the actual reason in due course. Don't let the truth get in the way of a good story? Lol

Official News, direct from HPI Racing:

http://www.hpieurope.com/news.php?la...sue=2013021901