Firstly today, woop woop!

This is your final, final warning! If you would like to enter your dealership, any of your valued team members or a special customer of yours into our Dealer of the Year competition (and you really should because you are all fantastic!) then you have until midnight tonight on Friday 31st October 2025.

The organising team have informed me that, as ever, we've had some marvellous nominations submitted across all this year's categories - but there are a few hours left to squeeze in yours if you haven't yet thrown your hat into the ring.

If you've been considering it, please do get involved. Everyone has an equal chance to win. The morale and PR boost that simply being in the running could give to your dealership, shouldn't be underestimated.

So get (quickly) entering! You might be surprised at the outcome!

Gas back?

Talking of being surprised, that's what I think our Service Dealer contingent were at the Equip show in Louisville last week. Not with the sheer size or indeed the quality of the event - we've come to expect that. No, what I think struck us all as somewhat unusual from our UK perspectives, was the proliferation of petrol (or gas) machinery options displayed.

As I mentioned last week, there seemed to be quite the contrast on show. Inside the halls, the exhibits were sleek, AI-driven, cordless, robotic, clean, and futuristic - a vision of high-tech progress. Step outside into the huge demonstration area, however, and you were met with a wall of roaring engines across most of the plots and the unmistakable scent of petrol hung in the air.

And the huge crowd of end-user landscapers operating those machines? It appeared as if they couldn’t have been enjoying it more!

For the past few years at our UK shows, it has almost been a case of hunt the petrol machine. If you think back to the recent GroundsFest where kit was in use, there wasn't a cacophony of noise (unless you were watching the old-school mower racing!). My guess is that at SALTEX in a couple of weeks, petrol options on show will be at a minimum.

But at Equip last week, it felt like gas was having a moment in the ascendancy. I asked the head of the OPEI and show organiser, Kris Kiser, for his thoughts on how traditionally-fuelled equipment was faring in the U.S market currently. He told me, "We're seeing the resurgnce of gas - certainly in commercial applications."

He stressed that for the homeowner market, battery is here to stay, it has deep U.S market penetration and those numbers continue to evolve and expand. But in the commercial sector, Kris said, yes battery is growing, however, "We are seeing a better evolution in gas products with cleaner, more efficient products." He summed up the current market situation saying, "Right now, gasoline is making a bit of a comeback." (You'll be able to watch my whole chat with Kris, plus tons more interviews from around the whole show, in our soon to be published Digital Special Report - the trailer for which, you can watch here.)

So my question to our UK and Ireland dealer readers today is, are you also seeing a resurgence in demand for petrol-powered commercial machines in your dealership? Has the pendulum swung back in favour of the combustion engine?

Or indeed, has that demand never really subsided? Do we have a slightly skewed impression of what commercial users actually want from merely looking at all the battery options lined-up at our trade shows?

The other option of course, is that battery genuinely is the preferred option now for our turf professionals. Do you think the transition is mostly complete? I remember at the Service Dealer Conference last year, the top guys from Twickenham and Lord's were asked if either would ever buy another petrol mower for their facilities - and both said they didn't think they would.

Now of course, gas is much, much cheaper in the U.S than on this side of the Atlantic. So that will have an undeniable impact on the popularity of machinery powered by it. But is there something more fundamental at play, than simply cost? 

In our dealer readers' opinions, is petrol having a resurgence over here?

Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below or drop me a line.