The New Endangered Species List
There's been quite a stir in the air lately. All over the Tower Hobbies website, Traxxas kits are showing up "Discontinued." What's going on? Why is this happening? Is Tower splitting with Traxxas the way they did with Losi? Worse yet, is Traxxas going out of business? So many possibilities, but which is closest to reality?
How about none of the above. I learned the answer through Tower Hobbies parent GPMD in the early Fall of last year when I was trying to build my J-SPEC TC fleet. Apparently I had bought the largest R/C distributor's very last 4-TEC kit. Literally. I wanted one more, but they didn't have another to sell to me. Even more surprisingly, they weren't going to get any more from Traxxas to sell to me. Traxxas wasn't making them anymore!
It's true; Traxxas has discontinued the production of R/C kits. Not just 4-TEC kits, but all, of their kits. No more Rustler kits, ever. No more Stampede kits, ever. No more Ban... well, you get the idea.
Needless
to say, this news is rather disconcerting to many of us Traxxas fanatics.
Why axe the kits? What about those of us who aren't brand spanking new
to the hobby and have no desire to run a weak, overweight XL-1
ESC or plain ole' TQ
radio system? What about us rabid customizers who tear apart stock
R/C's to keep their core components and hand-fabricate the rest? Is Traxxas
forsaking us, their biggest supporters and most valuable customers? Excuse
me while I go get a corkscrew and some soap; I need to open my mind and
wash the selfish aftertaste out of my mouth.
Our heartfelt opinions are one thing, but the Traxxas Corporation is a business, and in business, money talks. Traxxas transformed itself from a has-been, second-rate racing R/C manufacturer (at the end of their racing development program in the early 90's) into the world's undisputed #1 hobby-level R/C seller by moving to capture and extend the RTR space. The deeper they've gone into RTR, the more successful they've become, and now all of the other manufacturers are playing catch-up. Traxxas' kits have sold very, very, extremely poorly in comparison to their RTR's, and in the face of this, they have discontinued their failing product lines. The fact is, if they do not make decisions like this, they will once again fail, and we'll all be left saying "well they should of" and "well they could of" as we pick up RTR T4's and 4X-T's. Traxxas managers have to think with their brains and not the hearts of us strong supporters who don't see their balance sheets.
Let
me play devil's advocate for a moment (again). When you think about it,
it makes a lot of sense that Traxxas' kits haven't been selling well.
Sure, "Traxxas is RTR." They do great at targeting newcomers
with their inexpensive, durable, entry-level vehicles. However, once those
newcomers get some experience under their belts, they start looking for
something better. Where do they turn? Not back to Traxxas! For the most
part, they go to Associated or Losi. Why doesn't Traxxas counter this
by rebuilding their racing program, making race-worthy kits with graphite
& aluminum hop-ups & such? They're losing customers. They're losing
market share. They're losing everything! They're gonna crash & burn!
Oh, the humanity, Traxxas is dead!
Take a deep breath. In, real deep. Hold it. Out sloowwwwly. Good.
If Traxxas converted itself back into a racing company, the price of their vehicles would go up, their target audience would change, they would gain the incredibly critical eye of serious racers, and they would be stuck trying to compete with B4's, T4's and XXXX's, a battle which would be extremely difficult and costly to wage.
Look at Kyosho. Kyosho is an established, well-respected R/C company, yes? They recently tried to break into the fight against Losi & Associated, developing an entirely new racing platform, with both electric and nitro versions. They're doing okay in Japan (I wonder why), but in the 'States, they've failed miserably. If Kyosho, with their experience and reputation, couldn't do it, how can Traxxas?
Mugen released a GT & XXX-NT killer last year. Haven't seen anybody running one in my area yet.
Fighting Losi & Associated in the electric racing department is no small deal. It's not a simple matter of building a better mousetrap. You need to supply parts, kick-start aftermarket support, recruit team drivers, flood the market with new advertising, and so much more. If Traxxas tried this again today, they would quite possibly fall into a relapse of their near-death experience of about a decade ago. It would be a monumental mistake, not just for them, but for the entire hobby.
Think of what R/C would be without Traxxas and all of these not-fully-race-bred RTR's they've sold over the past decade. There wouldn't be half as many people in this hobby as there are today, literally. Think of it from the perspective of a young teen supporting his hobby with a meager allowance. Having to pay $140 for a vehicle vs. $260 can make the difference between getting into R/C and not.
As for Traxxas dropping the ball and losing customers, let's do a bit of a reality check. I haven't seen 2002 figures yet, but in 2001, the Rustler (despite the fact that it's a 9-year-old design) was the #1 selling 1/10th scale electric stadium truck, period, RTR or not. That same year, roughly 1 out of every 3 R/C's sold in the United States was a T-Maxx. I really don't think we'll be seeing the end of Traxxas any day soon.
So yes, Traxxas kits are on the endangered species
list, and I'm glad they are. It won't be long before they only exist in
captivity, so get one while you can! They'll soon be highly prized (though
not very valuable), especially once the new Traxxas electrics show
up in stores 
Food for thought: Team Associated recently discontinued their RC10 T3 Team kit, after introducing the T3 RTR. Now their only production electric truck kit is the Factory Team version. Losi did the same with their XXX-T, leaving only the Matt Francis Edition and the Sport RTR. Is there a pattern developing here?
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