What's happening with Panasonic/Cleva/Kenmore?

[fan-of-fans]

I'm confused on this whole thing with Panasonic. Last summer/fall they were supposedly going to stop making vacuums. And they sold their molds and designs to Cleva in China, who hired some of their engineers, so the Kenmore vacuums could continue. Now it seems Panasonic is going to continue making vacuums.

But they clearly did sell their canisters at least to Cleva, because there are three Cleva made Kenmore canisters now. However, to my knowledge there are no other Cleva made canisters and no Cleva uprights at Sears.

The Kenmore Elite canisters with plush nozzle and crossover nozzle are still there as are some others like the bagless canister. And the Panasonic made uprights are still there too.

So is Cleva just making canisters and Panasonic is still making their own and the better Kenmore models?

 

[panasonicvac]

Future

A while ago I got an email from Panasonic saying that they will continue to make vacuums. Apparently I found out later from others and experts saying that their customer service is really awful and not professional about their products or service. Last time I sent an email to Panasonic, never heard back from them. Sounds like they just told me a "little lie".

A month or two ago, I heard from my buddy that they were finally out of business and all vacuums made by Panasonic have been discontinued. My current vacuum store has a Ultra Pro for sale but it will be the final Panasonic for the store to sell because their supplier no longer has any Panasonics in stock. And one supplier I know said that Panasonic hasn't made vacuums for months now (At least the good quality models they used to sell before).

Sears and Panasonic have parted ways, Cleva now makes vacuums for Kenmore and it's expected that they are coming out with new models once the Panasonic versions are out of stock. I've seen a brochure of a new upright coming soon but I forgot what it looks like now.

Tacony, ESSCO, and Cleva are the only alternatives left for anyone that is looking at something similar to a Panasonic (Depending on which type).

I want to say farewell to Panasonic and all the years they did in the US vacuum market, they made perhaps one the best vacuums out there in the US.

 

[fan-of-fans]

I see, from what I'm seeing at Sears that seems to be the case. There are a number of the 200, 400, and 600 series canisters in stock which are made by Cleva. And there's a decent number of the straight suction bagless canisters from Panasonic left, but from what I saw only one Elite Crossover was in stock, had one on display also, the Elite Ultra Plush had none in stock and none on display, and the purple bagless canister from Panasonic only had one in stock and none on display. So that seems to point to the fact that the Elites and other Panasonic models are just leftover stock that is being sold out and not being made by Cleva.

Hopefully Cleva will come out with some worthy replacement models for the Elites and maybe a bagless canister also.

As far as uprights, I'm seeing the same thing with those, stock of Elite models are dwinding, although there still seems to be a fair number of the Shark-like models, Pet Crossover and Pet Crossover Ultra left. Hopefully Cleva will come out with a good replacement for those as well. I haven't seen any Cleva upright models yet.

The Cleva made canisters are nice, and I like that they continued the same bags and filters, but hopefully they can make something a little higher end with headlights, wand light, dirt sensor, etc, and improve bag sealing as well. I don't think it would be difficult to modify the end of the house to lock with the bag better so it can be better sealed. Panasonic improved the filter door on the latest Kenmore models they made, and Cleva seems to have continued that on their designs also.

Many say the Powermate connection shorts out on Kenmores, and I've had this issue in the past. Not so much a short, but the power nozzle plug on the handle gets loose because the tabs that hold it in place break off, which causes the plug to move around. So you get the Powermate shutting off when you push and pull on the wand. I was able to fix this by opening the handle and gluing the plug in place, or you could possibly do a better solution.

I'm not sure this is even a problem on the latest designs from Panasonic with the all plastic hose handle which was used on the last gen Progressives, and Elites, and is used by Cleva on the 600 series. I believe it will be an issue with the Cleva 200 and 400 series as they still use the metal end handle that Panasonic used on the first and second gen Progressives and most of their own models.

 

[n0oxy]

power nozzles and essco

What is the ESSCO brand? Have not heard of that one. Panasonic made some nice vacuums, I have an mc-cg902 canister which is a nice machine. If I would have known that all of these machines would have been discontinued, I may have also picked up an mc-cg937 as well.
I actually talked to the folks at Centec systems the other day to ask them which power nozzles if any they would still sell. Panasonic made the Centec power nozzles. The only ones that will continue to be made are the CT20 QD and the CT25 which is an updated version of the CT23 which is designed for cleaning regular and soft carpets. I think they also sell a power nozzle made by Tacony. Unfortunately the CT10 will no longer be made. They have quite a few left but once they are gone, that nozzle will be a part of vacuum history. This is the only power nozzle that is designed for hard floors, not only does it sweep them but it polishes the floor as well, kind of sad that this nozzle is no longer made.
Mike

 

[blackheart]

Essco

Electric Sweeper Service Company, is a major vacuum parts supplier. They, to my knowledge purchased the molds to make the Dustcare Evolution/Bernina machines. which are badged as Evolution

 

[eurekaprince]

It’s very interesting how the Chinese are creating corporate names that are easy to pronounce in western countries: Cleva must be from the word “clever” and Midea is probably from “my idea”. The latter name is suspiciously close to the name Miele, too! Are they hoping consumers will get the two confused?

It’s very reminiscent of how the two Korean companies “Lucky” and “Goldstar” ended up becoming “LG” which has shades of our old “GE” feel to it. LG even stole GE’s slogan “We bring good things to life” when they came out with “Life is good”.

 

[honestjoe68]

Hey!

Can any of you help me out and tell me if any of my Kenmore vacuum cleaners were made by Panasonic?

Is there a method to determine if it’s Panasonic by coding or other than guessing by the “Look” of a Panasonic?

I’ll include pics of the Kenmore I have and anyone that knows for sure and can let me know, I’d be most appreciative. I loved Panasonic Vacuums and owned a few of them over the years, but sadly I don’t still own any that are branded “Panasonic” anymore.

Thanks in advance!

Kenmore Elite Crossover Bagged Canister, Model 21814
Kenmore Crossover Ultra Bagless Upright, Model 116.10335510
Kenmore Elite Bagged Upright, Model 20.31150
Kenmore Canister Bagged Vacuum, Model 125.81614
Kenmore Elite 18 Volt, 2 in 1 Codless, Bagless Stick Vacuum, Model 10341

 

[fan-of-fans]

All of your uprights were made by Panasonic.

The canister was and is made by Cleva. I'm not sure about the stick vac. You can tell which are made by Panasonic, because the full model number starts with 116.
125 seems to be Cleva's code based on your canister.

You can see that, Cleva kept a lot of the tooling from Panasonic and just changed some things such as the canister and power head shape, etc. Similar to what Panasonic did when they took over from Whirlpool.