Well that came as a surprise!

Last week I visited the Viking factory in Langkampfen, Austria and there was no talk of the news which came out yesterday - that Viking is merging into STIHL.

There was one slight hint I suppose. In a Q&A session with the press who'd been invited to tour the factory and see the new Viking products, the first question that was asked of Viking managing director, Dr Peter Pretzsch was why don't Viking products have any STIHL branding on them? The argument being that the wider gardening public would be more familiar with the STIHL name and have a sense of the quality which it stood for.

Dr Pretzsch gave a diplomatic answer saying that this was more of an issue in the UK, where the idea had been talked about throughout the years that Viking had been part of the group. He went on to explain that with the move to cordless products and the importance which the company is placing on their future, there would be a stronger growing together of the brands. However, I don't think any of the assembled press thought it would be as close as that announced yesterday!

And In terms of the importance of cordless to STIHL I took the opportunity to ask, following the statement that the company would be looking to supply domestic gardening cordless products through other retailers in addition to traditional servicing dealers, if the company had intentions to expand the number of machines sold through these channels?

Both Dr Pretzsch and GB md Robin Lennie were very quick to reassure dealers that the company is loyal to the network and that they are integral to all their future plans. 

Dr Pretzsch said, “The concept of servicing dealers will be the same for the company in the future. If we have different ways of selling products, the parameters and criteria of the servicing dealer has to be fulfilled."

And Robin Lennie very much agreed, saying, “I've answered a lot of questions from individual dealers on the statement. The answer being that worldwide STIHL is loyal to the servicing dealer - and loyalty is a very, very strong word in STIHL."

Robin went on to say that they have no intention to supply direct and if and when they choose any alternative retailer they will proceed extremely cautiously and pick very carefully.

He also had some strong words regarding the appointing of alternative retailers, saying, “. . they will be told exactly how they have to operate. It will be very clear to these business partners that they can't sell petrol. Every aspect of their contract will be very prescriptive and very clear.”

So hopefully dealers can take reassurance from those words that they are very much at the heart of the company's plans going forward.

One of the fears which dealers were expressing when cordless really started taking off these past couple of years was of course how it was going to affect their service work. So it'd be great if you've got a couple of moments to fill our Winter Servicing Survey today - so we can compare the results to the one we held this time last year.

Then the impression we received from respondents was that workshops across the country were very busy - 51% in fact said their service work had increased on the previous year, with only 16% saying it had fallen.

Has this changed this past year? Do you think cordless sales are affecting your service levels? Please let us know.

As ever we'll publish the results and a selection of your comments in the next issue of Service Dealer magazine -  click here to take the survey.