# Associated being sold to Thunder Tiger?



## DynoMoHum (Sep 25, 2001)

Well... It seems it's true. Associated is going to sell their RC car business to Thunder Tiger... 

Wow... It's always been so cool to have at least one thing (Associated RC cars) that a person could buy that was american owned and operated and also have more or less the best you could get. Now, if this is true (and I'm pretty sure it is), even our beloved Assoicated will be a Taiwanese company.

So will they continue to make and develop excelent RC cars? or is this the
begining of the end of a long beloved american RC name? Will we all have to find some other american RC car company to buy from or what?


----------



## mcRacing (Sep 28, 2003)

all i can realy say is o well hope that thunder tiger will keep it a top notch name. and product.


----------



## DynoMoHum (Sep 25, 2001)

Well, I think the main reason a company like Thunder Tiger would be interested in the Associated stuff would be for their name and for the stuff that made the name of great value. If the products associated with the name were to go down hill in terms of quality and/or proformance level, the name's value would drop pretty quickly I think...

I personaly don't know that much about Thunder Tiger, but apparently Associated is their lagest OEM customer.... At least that's what I'm told is expressed in the following web page(along with indications that Thunder Tiger has or is to purchase Associated)...

http://www.ettoday.com/2005/04/07/185-1774551.htm

I'm going to have my wife translate this for me tonight.


----------



## DynoMoHum (Sep 25, 2001)

Oh, excuse me... apparently Assocated is/was Thunder Tiger's 'ONLY' OEM customer, and profits from that business alone account for like 20% of Thunder Tiger's total profits.


----------



## patcollins (Sep 29, 2001)

This will probably give Associated the financial backing that they need to do some bigger projects.


----------



## Mr-Tamiya (Jan 24, 2002)

God I hope so!!!!! I love associated! Oh and Tamiya for there detail!!!!


----------



## DynoMoHum (Sep 25, 2001)

My wife looked at the Chinese web page, however she didn't give me any details about what it said... at this point she did confirm that it basicly says that Thunder Tiger is attmempting to or is aquiring Associated. I asked her to confirm which it is... attempting to, or actualy doing it, and she hasn't given me the definitive answer yet... 

Other translations I've seen would seem to indicate it's more or less a done deal.


----------



## PITBULL (Sep 25, 2001)

I rarely hear of industries merging,selling etrc.etc. with european countries.
I guess money talks and we know the rest of the story.Anyway it certainly didnt seem to hurt Losi when Horizon bought them.I wonder if they will rename the tc4.to the TTTC4 ..LOL,its a great car by the way...


----------



## erock1331 (Apr 1, 2002)

I guess AE only went for $13 million


----------



## erock1331 (Apr 1, 2002)

TTR has bought the controlling interest in Associated, the world's 7th largest RC company (in terms of sales). Associated made up approximately 20% of sales at Thunder Tiger. This means that Thunder Tiger becomes much larger and will control a larger stake of the global RC market, moving into 4th place, behind Futaba-OS. At this point in time, it is uncertain whether the Associated name will continue; however we believe there are currently no plans to remove it.


----------



## DynoMoHum (Sep 25, 2001)

13 Million is not bad for a company who's main products have basicly been geared primarly toward the RC racing sector. (untill recently) Many of us racers don't oftten stop to think that we really are only a small portion of the total RC car market.

Funny... We've heard rumors that Ernie P. had been considering selling Trinity and/or EPIC... I wonder if when that will ever happen, and how much Trinity and/or EPIC might be worth.


----------



## PITBULL (Sep 25, 2001)

I have heard a few people say that associated cars and trucks dont have the fit n finish that some other brands have...I have owned 2 12th scale's,a FTTC3.TC3 TEAM,LSO pan car,l3 pan car,a T4 truck.All associated, and I cant count how many parts I have bought for them.I guess I am one of the lucky ones .lol ,,Every nut, bolt,screw,hinge pin,wheel, you name it, fit EXACTLY !
And not to mention the clear instructions and, the parts are in the hobby shops when I need them.. TT dont let us down lol


----------



## DynoMoHum (Sep 25, 2001)

I'm trying to get my wife to speak with her uncle, who's basicly involved in RC sales/distritubtion and based/lives in Taiwan. If I rember from my own converstions with him, he deals with Thunder Tiger regularly... He may have some knowlege of more details about this stuff...

I fully suspect that Thunder Tiger would have every desire to keep Associated's distribution and good name in tact... Obviously Associated was doing most things right or they would not have maintained their good reputation and profitablity over all thes years. 

As I said previously I don't really know that much about Thunder Tiger itself... but clearly they are in the business to make money... and the only way to keep doing that is to keep your customers happy... So buying Associated and then promptly running it into the ground would not be wise, and therefor would not seem likely.


----------



## travymoto1 (Aug 7, 2004)

patcollins said:


> This will probably give Associated the financial backing that they need to do some bigger projects.


imagine an AE 1/8th scale buggy.


----------



## hankster (Jan 1, 1998)

TT main focus has been in nitro vehicles. With AE's experence in electric it would help round out their product line.


----------



## KenBajdek (Oct 7, 2001)

Has there been any mention of keeping the CA location open? It would really suck if we didn't have at least a warehouse in the US. I see the demise of pan cars after all the dust settles from the new AE. The US is probably the only place that runs pan cars. Everybody else should gear up and start making their own pan car front ends, side shocks and springs.


----------



## DJ1978 (Sep 26, 2001)

I think it is a good move. TT is a huge company with an excellent reputation. If the merge is done right... it should be good for both companies.
Time will tell.


----------



## DynoMoHum (Sep 25, 2001)

People... (CRC and ohters) have already started making front end parts. Side shocks have also been available for some time... Hardly anyone I know in Oval uses stock associated parts for hardly anything but shocks and front ends... 

Pan car is clearly a 'racing only' product... it's a wonder we got as much support as we did with them for this many years. I would agree that pan cars are likely to be the most likely loss, if TT should decided to trim the Associated product line... On the other hand... how hard could it be to keep making front end peices at least?


----------



## DynoMoHum (Sep 25, 2001)

Well, here's the words from AE...

http://www.teamassociated.com/misc/thunder_tiger_announcement.htm


----------



## DynoMoHum (Sep 25, 2001)

Some key words in the AE announcment...

"Ownership of Associated has not changed, and its' personnel remains unchanged. Associated's team of highly motivated individuals stands ready to carry on the legacy that has made this company a legend in the R/C car racing industry."

Not sure how they do all that other streemlining, etc... without changing ownership, etc... but anyway, we've got the offical AE statement now anyway.


----------



## ekid138 (Mar 26, 2003)

Honestly, I don't think anything will change. Thunder Tiger has been involved with AE for years. As a matter of fact the MGT is a Thunder Tiger design and even has a TTR engine. The Jaguar radio that comes with nearly every AE RTR is a TTR radio. From what I understand the deal, money wise, wasn't about the highest offer. They had a private investment company that basically handed them a blank check but AE would rather have someone that knows about this industry and TTR was the most logical choice bases on their already existing relationship. AE will operate completely independantly and their staff will remain unchanged... how can that be a bad thing. I think its great that a company that already deals with AE bought them, less likely to change everything based on "we know how to do this better". AE has always been a company that thought everything out very well and I wouldn't assume that they made a bad decision this time either. Congrats to Roger on retireing and thanks for everything you've given us over the years. :thumbsup:


----------



## SuperXRAY (Jul 10, 2002)

Well, two things happen when companies combine or separate...

They get better, which is statistically low.
They get worse, and eventually bankrupt, which is statistically higher.

Just have to wait and see, I suppose. I don't run AE products anymore, but they do have competitive products at the moment. Thunder Tiger on the other hand, seems to be difficult to get ahold of for parts. Maybe it's just the midwest or who I worked for, but when I managed a hobby store, TT didn't want to deal with us...no returned phone calls, products shipped DAYS after promised, lack of parts availability, etc etc etc.


----------



## cneyedog (Jan 22, 2002)

only time will tell what happens when there's a company buyout. Hopefully associated continues to do well ...... they've been around when alot of others were not. There arent many people I race with who has never had an associated kit of somekind or another....... it would be a shame if they went away. They have always supported this crazy hobby .....lol


----------



## DJ1978 (Sep 26, 2001)

Here is the official annoucement.

http://www.teamassociated.com/misc/thunder_tiger_announcement.htm


----------

