michb

Mr Ed, What Michelle was saying in the original post is that, in terms of component cost, 15% to 30% of the machine (depending on model) is impacted by the Euro, compared with 100% impact from anything built in Euro land (or USA) – therefore our machines have not been subjected to currency impact to anywhere near the degree of that from Johnny Foreigner! Our price list has remained stable since August 2008 and we have not looked to ‘profiteer’ from the currency situation. Timberwolf have always represented good value for money, but now our competitors are unable to use the strong pound to their advantage the price gap is clearly evident! That £5445 price increase that Mike talks about from Jan 2007 is not the Germans improving the machine and putting more metal into it etc – that’s the extra cost of just buying something from Europe. The smart money now buys British! BTW A lot of successful businesses start out as ‘just a hobby’. What is now Timberwolf actually started out in a double garage next to the house. No condescension was intended in the ‘long awaited’ statement – very happy to have another British manufacturer banging the drum and giving people more opportunity to buy British rather than foreign goods! Just saying if you could produce it sooner rather than later your timing would be good with regard to foreign chipper pricing! If you’re ever in the area, I’d be glad to show you round our facility and maybe give you some insight to some of the technical challenges we have had to overcome. Best of luck. Richard Marshall.

No Mr Ed, it does not – and nor does your long awaited chipper! The same could be said for the majority of German chippers who do not fit German engines or hydraulic components etc; in fact you could say the same is true for almost all chippers built in the world apart from the USA where they can source all these components from their own country because they understand the importance of manufacture, the importance of self sufficiency and why it is better for a country to be an exporter rather than an importer! We cannot source the parts you listed from the UK because successive Governments (and short sighted unions) since the 2nd world war have ensured that UK manufacturing has become almost extinct! The backbone of any strong country is its manufacturing base (USA, Japan, China etc) why is this? – Because manufacturing creates jobs and ensures the country receives the profit from the whole supply chain mechanism rather than just the interaction between importer and seller. Timberwolf deals with approx. 40 British companies supplying us with over 2000 different parts. All of this contributes to GDP to a much greater extent than if we were just an importer of foreign machines dealing with one foreign manufacturer who in turn deals with 40 or so suppliers from their country and not ours! So to answer your question – We are as British as we can be after 60 years of having the heart ripped out of our country! Richard Marshall

Just in case anyone is muddying the waters with reference to component manufacture. I would just like to point out that Timberwolf is designed and manufactured in the UK, using as many British suppliers as we possibly can! ALL Timberwolf designed parts are manufactured in the UK. As a result we have not suffered the price increase from Europe to any great extent and Timberwolf dealers are offering superb value deals on all models in the ranges. Timberwolf - proud to be British and pleased to be selling chippers back to Europe for once!

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion

why not let the machine do the talking - if you would like a tracked machine demo please contact me at TW on 01449 765800