New Find Electrolux Excellio 5045

[hi-loswitch98]

I know I'm meaning the Electrolux/Zanussi 'Vitesse' Cleaners that clog with the central filter in the dust bin.

 

[vintagerepairer]

Zanussi

Not quite. During the early 1990s, the Electrolux Lite model was sold as a Zanussi. They were rather solid cleaners in their day and positively bullet-proof by today's standards.

 

[sebo_fan]

Well, effectively Electrolux had done this before with their Boss brand - offered elsewhere as Electrolux "proper" vacs without the Boss badging. The Boss brand often threw me - I was never quite sure what Electrolux's conditions were to badge everything "Boss" as some of the products weren't always the cheapest.

 

[gsheen]

There is a New Zanuusi upright vacuum out, its basically a Eureka airspeed one under a different name.

It actually a good vacuum I have a Eureka version of it, I have had it for a few months now and workes very well using a copy of the dyson dual cyclone technology, a few months in and the filter is only now getting dirty. Not the best build quality but its got super carpet cleaning ability and for its price is a dam good vacuum.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Electrolux cylinder cleaners

Wasn't there also around the 1990s, a range of high-end models called the "4x4"?

I remember them having four Miele type castors, a flex that wound itself in and out, and a dustbag made of synthetic fleece. Colours were British Racing Green and a similar Blue. I can't remember if remote control was available - I suppose it was.

 

[sebo_fan]

Gareth - check previous post http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?21603

You'll also see Zanussi have relaunched the Electrolux Powerlite bagged upright as well as a lot of other old Electrolux products. I feel here that Electrolux have really lost their way.

 

[gsheen]

I disagree

I am rather impressed with the new Electrolux line up. The fact that they are badgeing some old but good models as Zanussi vacuums is not a bad thing. I like the colors too.

 

[sebo_fan]

Well we're entitled to our opinions - as I said in the other post.

Sadly as far as I'm concerned, Electrolux in the UK have done very little with their current floorcare. They don't even appear to have any vacuums listed anymore on their UK website. Clearly they want to get away from floorcare, passing off their old line to Zanussi with few changes other than colours and uprated power and the luxury line given to AEG.

 

[gsheen]

I think there has been a reshuffle at Electrolux, I always found it odd that in Europe & SA the top models are badged as AEG but in England they were Electrolux. There is allot of Movement at Electrolux AEG SA, Electrolux here was aeg and Electrolux floor care but now its major appliances aswell. What I do think is going to be happening in SA and UK is a whole new upright model range. With Dual cyclone technology patent's expiring, expect to see more on the airspeed light. If I was you I would watch Eureka website as that's were all upright Electrolux's come from. I think there are going to be some great new machines

 

[sebo_fan]

The only new Electrolux I tried was a couple of months ago when one of my mates bought the Electrolux Air Excel AS5200A (in the U.S I understand its the Eureka Air Excel). Its a great mover for a standard upright but its noisy and the hose has a habit of travelling back too much. I swapped it with my Vax Mach Air before it was sold, and my mate liked the Mach Air better, even though it doesn't have such a long hose on board. Would I buy one though? No, but I liked the blue and silver colour : )

 

[adamthemieleman]

That's exactly the same as the AEG Powerlite All Floors that we sell, just a different colour

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/home-a...gless-vacuum-cleaner-silver-21646211-pdt.html

 

[spiraclean]

As to whether or not Electrolux are losing their way, I don't know. One thing I have noticed however, is that the group in general seems a little unsure about how to position its various brand names in recent years.

Used to be we had Parkinson Cowan for gas cooking, and Tricity Bendix for electric cooking and budget white goods. Both are gone now. Zanussi, once a mid-range brand, seems to be filling in for this spot at the moment, and some would say the products have gone seriously downhill in quality from what they were previously.

AEG was always the top end white goods and floorcare line, until the company decided to make Electrolux the flagship brand. AEG got demoted to mid-range status, by which time the vacuums had already disappeared completely. When the AEG name finally returned to vacuums, it was on what were previously Electrolux models. The Elux floorcare line itself then moved from the mid range more towards the budget end of the market.

Electrolux freestanding white goods then disappeared for a while, leaving AEG as the top of the line choice once more. Now we have freestanding Elux laundry appliances and dishwashers yet again, only this time very similar to the AEG line with nothing much to choose between them in terms of pricing or features. Makes it hard to tell which of the two is supposed to be the flagship brand now.

Now Electrolux have deleted their floorcare range in the UK, it's anyone's guess what will happen next. With existing models having been already rebranded as AEG and Zanussi, will Elux become a white goods-only brand from now on? Maybe the brand names will swap around again at some point in the future, or perhaps the company is merely clearing the decks in readiness to launch an entirely new Electrolux floorcare line. There has been so much to-ing and fro-ing over the years that's it's impossible to tell what their plans are.

 

[adamthemieleman]

But Electrolux have launched new products under their own name haven't they? Aren't they behind the Ergorapido, and the Ultra lineup outside of the UK?
Bring back the old Contour that's what I say!

 

[sebo_fan]

Well.. in my experience.. AEG have always been a top of the line brand and Electrolux has always stood by that, even back in the day in the early 1990s, an AEG vacuum cleaner carried the famous "Made in Germany," moniker as a way to exude and promise extra built in quality. In some ways the Excellio carries this, even though it is an Electrolux vacuum.

Generally then for floorcare ranges from Electrolux, the umbrella companies share:

AEG - top of the line
Electrolux - Top & Middle of the line
Boss - The old offshoot name for budget vacuums.

Husqvarna & Flymo only had specialist vacuums in the 1980s and they didn't stay around for long, perhaps Electrolux's way of testing the UK market.

Now it looks like this:

AEG - Top of the line
Electrolux - Middle and bottom (as they still sell the Powerlite bagged upright "seasonally.")
Zanussi - The replacement for "Boss" budget vacuums.
John Lewis - Exclusive department store appliances for the large appliance market; the previous "HiLight bagged upright," was also sold under John Lewis, but JL already have a deal with Bosch to supply bagged cylinder vacuums.

I had the original Electrolux Ergorapido stick vac when it was first sold in the UK. When Electrolux went into promotion overdrive for AEG, it donated the next model replacement to AEG as well as the current Ultra series, again no doubt to promote the "Made in Germany," aspirations, even if the machines are either made in China or Hungary...

It is a terrible mess, really when you look at it. When you can see what Electrolux used to have in their floorcare ranges, its a smack in the mouth to the loyalists of the brand.

I also grew up with a few Tricity appliances but only when they were under the old Thorn EMI ownership company who also had Kenwood. Tricity fridges and some cookers also carried the electricity showroom brand "Electra." For Bendix, the home company was Kelvinator from Italy.
We had a replacement "stop gap" Bendix washer when our Hoover Electron 1300 called it a day and after the Bendix washer dryer returned to the Hoover brand for the Ecologic 1300 washer dryer - much better quality and general performance aside from expensive drive belt replacements in later years.

 

[adamthemieleman]

The origins seem to be changing I've noticed. Zanussi is loosing it's selling point, my late nans FL1034 was a trooper, used once a week, I think it's still going today. That is because they were reliable and simple machines and always had been. The newer ones are fading away from this for example the ZWG series made by Little Swan. Why Electrolux needed to do this is beyond me, but if AEG and Electrolux are aimed at the higher end as they share the same manufacturing base in Italy. Some of the Zanussi's are labelled as Made in EU, so probably like Hotpoint/Indesit are moving production to Poland.
The whole point is that if Electrolux is is restructuring brands and cost cutting in the process, the Zanussi brand is likely to suffer. AEG perhaps less so, they seem to have more of a reputation to loose.

 

[vintagerepairer]

All manufacturers are struggling, it would seem, and who can wonder why when retail prices are so low. None of them can afford to build high quality appliances when a consumer could buy two if not three, say, Bush washing machines instead of one half-decent Bosch.

Floorcare is a minefield of it's own, thanks to the shake-up which James Dyson gave it.

 

[sebo_fan]

Well, not all brands ARE struggling. If it was the case, the cost price of everything would go up including the budget brands. Argos Value's bagged cylinder vacuum that was priced at £22 a few months ago has dropped to £18 and they're not exactly selling like hotcakes. If Argos was suffering, there is no way that the price would be falling when you can't buy a new cylinder vacuum for £22 in general unless you consider other supermarket "rivals."

Also the world of TTI - Vax are releasing a new vacuum it seems every couple of months.

 

[sebo_fan]

I emailed Electrolux a few days ago - it seems all of their floorcare ranges are being passed over to Zanussi and AEG. Electrolux will no longer be putting their own names to machines in the UK. That's really sad.

 

[hi-loswitch98]

I always knew that day would come eventually - how sad that the UK has lost one of it's once great brands of Vacuum Cleaner. They got worse & have now pulled out. Soon enough it will just be Dyson's on the Market. Most of Hoover's good range of Vacuum Cleaners are in other countries anyway.

 

[sebo_fan]

Well they haven't gone yet, they've just put everything to their other companies.