New Find Electrolux Excellio 5045

[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.

 

[sebo_fan]

I was playing with my Excellio again the other day. What strikes me as being deeply ironic about this vacuum is that, despite its 3.5 litre dirt capacity, the vacuum could well be a hit with buyers NOW when compared to the likes of the Miele S700 series that have hit Tesco and Currys etc. If it was priced at £199 again, it would be a bargain based on its 10 metre cord on board, alone and similar Miele fixings due to the Wessel Werk tools and connections.

Despite it being expensive back in the day, the Excellio seems to be a vacuum cleaner very much in keeping with the times despite the weight. It is almost as if Electrolux were looking to the future with this vacuum cleaner when all things are considered.