Old Sweat said:One suspects the US government will not allow a major small arms manufacturer to close its doors.
jollyjacktar said:That was a news report that made me think "WTF". One of the few things I would never have guessed at hearing.
Old Sweat said:One suspects the US government will not allow a major small arms manufacturer to close its doors.
George Wallace said:Rather hard to believe that Colt with its American, NATO and international markets could go bankrupt. They must have some serious problems in their top echelons to be so, as I doubt it is a problem with their products. I am sure that their Research and Development is keeping up with the times.
Not to mention that their civilian firearms were over-priced for their quality, while resting on their Single Action Army/1911/AR15 laurels and failing to innovate.Ostrozac said:Word in the financial media is that Colt's military and civilian arms weren't cooperating at all -- and were spending more time on internal bickering instead of bottom line issues. Bottom line issues like that the military arm was getting smoked by FN and the civilian arm was getting smoked by Ruger, Glock and Sig.
Seriously, the world has been at war for 15 years solid, and US domestic firearms sales have been steadily rising for the last decade. If Colt couldn't make money in that environment, you have to put that down to mismanagement. All the R&D dollars in the world won't help if you can't get a product to market that people actually want to buy.
Ostrozac said:Word in the financial media is that Colt's military and civilian arms weren't cooperating at all -- and were spending more time on internal bickering instead of bottom line issues. Bottom line issues like that the military arm was getting smoked by FN and the civilian arm was getting smoked by Ruger, Glock and Sig.
Seriously, the world has been at war for 15 years solid, and US domestic firearms sales have been steadily rising for the last decade. If Colt couldn't make money in that environment, you have to put that down to mismanagement. All the R&D dollars in the world won't help if you can't get a product to market that people actually want to buy.
ArmyDoc said:Not to mention that their civilian firearms were over-priced for their quality, while resting on their Single Action Army/1911/AR15 laurels and failing to innovate.
The Cowboy Action Shooting market was lost to Ruger Vaquero (worked fine out of the box and were durable)and Uberti (needed an action job but were much cheaper) clones of the 1873 Peacemaker. The 1911 market was lost to companies such as SIG, Kimber and S&W on the "custom but stock" end and on the high end suppliers such as Ed Brown. Finally, Armalite, Bushmaster and others provided a better and more affordable AR15 rifle. The police market was sewn up by SIG, Glock and Beretta.
What else did Colt have in the inventory? Very little.
Ostrozac said:Word in the financial media is that Colt's military and civilian arms weren't cooperating at all -- and were spending more time on internal bickering instead of bottom line issues. Bottom line issues like that the military arm was getting smoked by FN and the civilian arm was getting smoked by Ruger, Glock and Sig.
Seriously, the world has been at war for 15 years solid, and US domestic firearms sales have been steadily rising for the last decade. If Colt couldn't make money in that environment, you have to put that down to mismanagement. All the R&D dollars in the world won't help if you can't get a product to market that people actually want to buy.
cupper said:This jives with what I heard tonight on the way home. It seems that they borrowed more than they should have in order to maintain dividend payouts, and didn't reinvest enough to allow the business to grow. And also the high price for the civilian models lost sales, and the loss of the US Military contract, especially the pistol contract to Beretta hurt them significantly.
I'll post up a link to the NPR story when it becomes available later tonight.
jollyjacktar said:If they want to run the company like it was Eatons, then they can expect to suffer the same fate as Eatons.
LunchMeat said:PWGSC take note... time to look to HK 416 and the SIG556 >
Hamish Seggie said:They won't. Too many jobs at stake.
Speaking of which ....Ostrozac said:.... And even if Colt completely death-spirals, someone else will likely purchase the facility in Kitchener because Colt Canada (unlike the parent US company) is still getting decent amounts of government contract work ....
.... The Honourable Julian Fantino, Associate Minister of National Defence, will make an announcement at Colt Canada on June 23, 2015, to benefit the Canadian Armed Forces and northern sovereignty.
WHAT: Ministerial announcement on equipping Canada’s military.
WHERE: Colt Canada Facility, 1036 Wilson Avenue, Kitchener, ON
WHEN: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 at 1:30 p.m. (EDT). Media are requested to arrive at Colt Canada no later than 1:15 p.m. for sign-in and escort ....
Underway said:This doesn't suprise me. Colt canada is one of four "protected" industries in the country. The govt will not allow them to die. It's against the national interest.