Lionel Leaving HO

[Big_Boy_4005]

Guys, Lionel has tried to make it in HO at least 3 other times in their history, dating all the way back to the 1960's. Each time they have failed for a different reason. This time they offered maybe their best products ever, but the MTH lawsuit seems to have rendered that moot.

The Lionel name does not translete well into the HO market. I don't expect that MTH will either. How in God's name could they possibly compete with the likes of Athearn, Atlas Walthers, etc.

[CP5415]

If they were smart, they would have started out with a wider consumer base locomotive like Simon has stated.

Not everyone has the desire of need for UP only locomotives. Especially ones made to run on broad curves such as the Challenger & Turbine
I don't.
A decent Mikido, Pacific or Hudson would have been better.

But that's my 2 cents.

Gordon

[simon1966]

Based on the evidence I have seen so far, Lionel made some significant errors with this effort into HO.

They clearly over estimated the demand. How long has the blow out sale been going on now? The fact that they are not all gone yet suggests a huge blunder in their estimate. They must have taken a real cash flow hit with this.

Were a Turbine and the Challenger good choices for getting into the market? Perhaps a simpler, lower cost model with wider appeal would have been a better starting point?

It does not seem as if they got all the bugs ironed out of the models either. There have been several reports of problems on the forum.

So all in all, this has been a misguided effort. I would imagine that some heads may have rolled as a result.

[jrbernier]

The MTH lawsuit/judgement may have something to do with the decision, but I think the HO line just was not working out. Lionel has been in and out of HO about 4 times and does not seem to last in the HO market.

Jim Bernier

[Anonymous]

The fact that MTH won a $40 million lawsuit against Lionel could have something to do with their dropping the HO line. We may never know.

Bob Boudreau

[TrainFreak409]

What does everyone think about this? Lionel produces two models, the Challenger and Veranda, in HO, and now, they have decided to quit HO. Now, me personally, I would at least think they would stick with it for a bit longer, to get accurate feed back on their models. Can two high priced models give a company the information they need?

~[8]~ TrainFreak409 ~[8]~