One of the perks of being an ATVC editor is profiling some of the many companies, some long standing, others up and coming, that make this industry of ours so great.

This week we had a chance to check out Bennche and their impressive line of 15 models for 2015. Read all about it here:

Meet Bennche: The ATV & UTV Presence of Texas - ATVConnection.com

 

If they need test drivers, have them call me.

 

Hope they do well. Good for Texas.Reliability and parts availability would be my biggest concern since they are Chinese. Hopefully they will be as reputable as Kymco has turned out to be even though they're made in Taiwan.

 

The problem I see with this company and others like it is that their machines look like just like something already out there. In order to get people to buy it, they have to be a lot less expensive for people to gamble on an unknown brand. They are a little less expensive than say a Polaris Rzr for the sport models and something like a Yamaha Viking or Polaris Ranger for the utility based machines but not a lot less. The smaller 250 models are unique though as no major manufacturer makes something like that, I can see those selling to people who just need a machine for work and don't care if its slow, like the smaller Kawasaki Mule models. The 400 models are priced nicely too. Its just hard to get your foot in the door when your competition has decades of experience building their brand. Its hard to convince buyers to buy a Bennche over a Yamaha or Polaris. People know what to expect from those, with a Bennche you just don't know.

 

Gotta admit, I do like their ad.

 

Wish we had them to advertise for us when we took on the butt ugly 87 Polaris atvs.. Most people down here never heard of Polaris when they first walked into the shop or if they had most saw them in farm and ranch stores up north. At the time Polaris only had the 4 major brands to compete with and got a good foot in the door. With all the different brands and models out there now I'd hate to be a start up company these days. Looked online and saw about 7 dealers listed,farthest one in PA. Seems to me that they'd have to get down and dirty with their prices against the competition to get enough people to look their way.

 

Not just the cheerleaders but getting the support of the Cowboys organization will definitely get them a few buyers locally. The Texas-quality part of the ad is a bit misleading as yes they are assembled locally but the parts come from overseas. The average walk in customer doesn't need to know that right? Just show the pics with the pretty cheerleaders lol. But maybe give them a few years and they might take off. Sad part is, the Cowboys probably didn't pay for any of those, they were probably given to them in return for a plug like this.

 

Even with us using our machines nearly every weekend of the year, I could never see spending that kind of money on an ATV.......Been a loooong time since I saw prices! They look good though.

 

Not only did they not pay for them, I'm betting Jerry got money given to him too.