Riccar R27

[lokisdads]

Has anyone else heard about the new Riccar R27 yet. Apparently the R25 is going away. The R27 will basically the same machine, but in a different color and only two models. Production will be shifted from China to Vietnam. I actually talked to a Tacony rep on Saturday in a local vac store.

 

[panasonicvac]

Certainly news to me. I'll keep my eye on this thread for any updates.

 

[hank]

Shifting to Vietnam likely to avoid higher tariffs on China. Would have loved to see Tacony bring back assembly here with the newer machines, but I never thought they would anyways. Was talking to my local vac shop owner a few weeks back, said he’s already had to eat the 30% on what he sells in store and raise prices accordingly.

I asked him what he thought about the tariffs and his response was something along the lines of “it’ll force riccar to be US made again!!”

Yea. Ok buddy.

 

[kirbylux77]

Hank - Yes, that could be the case. But, knowing Tacony, I would be willing to bet the real reason they are moving production to Vietnam is quality control issues. The fact they changed the model name and slimmed down to 2 models is proof of it - if there weren't known issues with the R25 series, they wouldn't have changed the model name! And I personally have heard a mixed bag about these uprights - that they clean well, but nowhere as good as the Miele Dynamic U1 models did when they were still in production, and overall lower quality than their previous Vibrance/Symmetry uprights and lower quality than other premium brands. Also note, Tacony did have quality control issues with Chinese manufacturers in the past - if you remember, with the Prima/Wonder canisters, they were specifically disassembling them and checking for quality issues at the St James, Missouri plant once they arrived from China because they KNEW there were gonna be issues.

Hate to say it, but if Tacony keeps on their present path, I don't see them surviving and staying in business much longer.