Hey guys, I'm happy to chime in here since I'm "the guy from Florida with a pipe-dream" that's apparently going to fail...
First, I'd like to thank you for supporting the 6x6 community
It's very clear that you have no understanding on the amount of work that goes into manufacturing, let alone a vehicle. Contrary to what you may think, most of the MAX 2 components are not off-the-shelf. While there are off-the-shelf parts that do fit on the MAX, they are either not an exact match or an inferior part. For example, I ordered 600 inner bearings and flanges for the MAX 2 two months ago, and I will be receiving them in mid-December. Doesn't sound like the same thing as me going to Tractor Supply or Grainger, does it..?
The path of least resistance to relaunching MAX again is to start with the most successful MAX - the MAX 2. I don't really care about your opinions and feedback that comes from online forms. I am basing all of my business decisions based on 43 years of historical sales data as I have ALL of Recreatives' sales records of vehicles and parts, dealer records, supplier/vendor records, engineering drawings, etc going back to 1969. I am led to believe that will carry more weight than comments on 6x6Talk from a few speculators.
Here's my thoughts if this is a dream or for real:
1. We recently moved into our new factory building, a brand new 8,000 sq. ft. facility
2. We are a publicly-traded company and in the final stages of registering a stock offering to raise $15,000,000 to go full-scale with MAX and modernize the entire line-up
3. I have personally ordered 50 vehicles worth of chassis and all fabricated parts, which will be arriving in November.
4. I have ordered 300 axles and enough sprockets for 50 MAX 2's, which will come in the first week of December.
5. I have delivered the MAX 2 molds to our vendor in Georgia and ordered 80 MAX 2's worth of plastic bodies in new colors, which they will begin forming the first week of November once they receive our shipment of plastic
6. I have 35 T-20 transmissions worth of components that will be arriving by mid-December.
7. We redesigned a new internal muffler, which we had new tooling made for and has been tested. These are entering production next month.
8. We have had new tooling made for T20 parts, brake caliper parts, the muffler, new fuel tank mold to match the old tank, among other tooling.
And there's much more that I don't feel like taking the time to list.
It takes MONTHS to get new tooling made, get samples, test the samples, then it takes months to order production quantities of parts. For example, I ordered 300 axles and sprockets for 50 MAX 2's in mid-July, and they are arriving in early December. That's a LOT of $$$$ to lay out for that long, and that's just axles and sprockets!
Maybe you guys should pause, take a second, and actually think about what I'm saying goes into launching a vehicle into production.
I'm not pretending to be some business guru, but my existing business is in retail, which I grew from nothing to $5+ million a year within 4 years. I've been a die hard enthusiast of MAX my whole life, and I know how to analyze businesses, and I was quite pleased with the opportunity I saw when I was performing due diligence on MAX before we acquired it.
Redesigning MAX from the ground up properly would require MILLIONS of dollars in engineering and R&D. Who in their right mind thinks that's the best way to RELAUNCH a company that has been shut down for almost 10 years? Why wouldn't you just start your own company.
We're relaunching the MAX 2 largely how it was in 2013, we are using TRIED AND PROVEN designs that we know won't fail as soon as a customer gets the vehicle, it keeps the start-ups costs down as we don't need to invest in expensive engineering and R&D, and we will be able to offer parts for the thousands of existing MAX 2s that are already out there.
If you all ever have questions, you can call the MAX phone number 800-255-2511 and personally talk to me anytime. But c'mon, let's leave the bashing and division in the community to the side.
Also, regarding our price, we are actually coming in LOWER than a 2013 MAX 2 23hp with a Roll Bar if you consider inflation thanks to our commander-in-chief. The fact that I am able to relaunch the MAX 2 from the ground up and come in cheaper than an Argo with the 23hp EFI, and include a roll bar in that is actually pretty freaking amazing, since I've figured out how to compete against a company that builds 2,000+ ATVs a year, mostly above $20k, and fighting inflation the same time.
And Recreatives didn't shut down because of an inferior product or lack of sales contrary to what some people may assume. I can assure you that lol.
So for all you naysayers...
If you want an Argo, go get an Argo. If you want to buy a MAX and support a company that's now controlled by a life-long 6x6 enthusiast who actually has material developments in the works to bring MAX back on a large scale and dominate the 6x6 market in the coming years by growing the MAX line in a way Recreatives didn't have the motivation to, then we'd love the support!
Right now I'm anticipating to have 2-3 vehicles built prior to Christmas, and if everything we have on order arrives in time with no issues, then we begin building new vehicles and fulling orders for new vehicles starting the first week in January.
Oh, and we have had many dealer inquiries - honestly enough dealers have reached out to take all 50 vehicles... so we will be signing on a few select dealers we are already in discussions with as a pilot program so we can also sell vehicles factory-direct to customers as well.
I do plan on running a special on new pre-orders in November/December for the whole Black Friday/Holiday shoppers out there. If people want to see the finished vehicle before ordering a vehicle, then that's cool too.
Call me during the weekdays if you have any questions about the new MAX, or parts, or our stock, or any questions in general about the company. I'm happy to talk MAX and answer any questions!
Regards,
Andrew Lapp, CEO
Recreatives Industries, Inc.
www.maxatvs.com800-255-2511
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