Taigen Torro Heng Long ?

[Jake79]

Hi All

I want to try and clear something up that's confused me since starting this hobby, so is it right that Taigen make tanks for Torro and also I've read somewhere that Taigen use a lot of old Heng Long stock to make their tanks...So I'm pretty sure Taigen make a lot of Torro's stuff but why would Torro ask Taigen to do this when a few months later Taigen bring out the exact same tank and undercut them in price buy well over £100..Why are people still paying the higher price for a Torro all metal tank when it's the same as the Taigen.. makes no sense to me.. It looks a bit suss when a company release a tank that a different company has made at a much higer price, knowing that the company who has just made them that tank is going to release it later at a much lower price, why would Torro keep asking Taigen to make them tanks if they know Taigen are going to do this.....Am I missing something......

Jake

[jarndice]

One might reasonably ask why do Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac sell the same car when after all they all come from the same stable (GM) Niche marketing old friend, Chevrolet sell the no frills car, Buick sells to the business and professional classes and Cadillac is the loaded model for the upper echelon but all the body shells are made in the same plant and so are the engines so you get economy of scale and so it is with HENG LONG, TORRO and TAIGEN. I await the inevitable cry of IDIOT YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I am only a lowly WO2 who knows nothing. shaun

[billpe]

Now I could be wrong but:
Taigan is it's own brand using some parts sourced from HL or using some of the same molds. They do however have their own designs coming through and are less and less reliant on older HL molds. They have their own hulls for instance (a mix between stock HL but adding metal inserts/replacing some parts) but in many cases the tops and most design features are taken from HL. They'll soon be releasing there own gearbox design - I would suspect that later on they'll do a partnership with Clark or a similar company to produce bespoke electronics.
Torro is similar to Taigan. They're not HL or related to HL but in some cases use the same parts or molds but occasionally different electronics. I don't believe there is any connection between Taigan and Torro and Torro is it's own brand.
Mato is completely different brand to HL but like the others started out as HL copies. They're going there own way to being a premium brand and have recently released tanks not in the HL roster, all in metal (For better or worse!).
Waltersons I believe is the HL Premium brand.

Now apart from Mato metal tanks, It's a long held assumption that the other brands have some parts made in the same factories.This is probably true in many respects although if you open up a Torro, some are quite different to HL in there internal design, so clearly don't use the same molds.

[Jake79]

I understand what you saying about GM, but the Taigen and Torro full metal look to be the exact same spec, although completely different price, look at both companies T34's see if you can tell me any difference apart from one comes with a wooden box, their full metal Tigers and King, I bet there's no difference in quality or spec.......beats me why the customer would want to pay an extra £150 for a wooden box...Billpe I'm sure I remember the guy at Imex/Taigen say Torro ask them to make them tanks...

[billpe]

That might be the case to cut costs. I believe Torro charge a Premium for the paint job. Not that it's worth that much.

[jarndice]

I hear what you say BUT there is a limit to the similarities in hull and body before I say no these are from the same supplier, Ever since TAMIYA came out with their TIGER 1 which had 2 (TWO) ariel stowage rods, one on each side of the rear quarters of the body even though the original full size prototype only had 1 (ONE) on the left (looking from the front) so when HENG LONG came out with their TIGER 1 their denials that they had copied TAMIYA produced doubts as the double ariel stowage rods were there plainly in sight, it seemed a little suspicious, ok but if as you say these other company's are independent how come the same error to this day is still appearing on every TIGER 1 whoever is making/marketing it! If these company's were independent surely they would long ago have produced the correct upper body. The same goes for the PANZER 4, on the full size prototype the rear rollers are lower than the other three which are in line but the Panzer 4s produced by HENG LONG/TORRO/TAIGEN all share the same fault and are produced with all the rollers in line, again I ask would a truly independent manufacturer make the same mistakes as its rivals unless they were/are sharing moulds. shaun

[Jake79]

That's it Shaun, so if you buy a Torro your basically getting ripped off, same tank different price....

[Jake79]

I believe either Taigen own part of Torro, or Torro own part of Taigen...As they seem to of released the exact same tank twice, I've just noticed now that rc tank de now state their 429 euro t34 as a Taigen although it's sitting on a Torro box before this 429 euro t34 was advertised as a Torro on a Torro box..so that's been changed they also now have the same t34 made by Taigen without the Torro box for much less...I've never owned a Torro but radio looks very similar to Taigens aswell...

[billpe]

As said, some use the same molds and might even be made in the same factory (Foxcon makes both Android and Apply phones, Dell and Samsung monitors for instance.)but made for different companies. It's not black and white. What is sensible - making new molds - also costs money, as the guy from Taigan states he'd love to make new molds for things but it costs 10's of thousands of $$$ to retool production lines to do this, so the Chinese supplier uses the old ones.

What makes me thing Torro is different is the gearboxes. Torro's often come with those enclosed plastic boxes and the hull bottoms are different to HL. It would make no sense to do that unless they're a different company. Sure other parts are the same, but see above. All these companies seem to use the same molds, if not the same factories. But that isn't a revelation given it's pretty common in China. Maybe Torro is now part owned or wholy owned by Taigan, who really knows. Either way I'd fully research any purchase from any of these companies as quality of them is always questionable, certainly from my experience of buying non-Tamiya tanks.

China is full of people copying each others items and making a buck of it so it's not out of the realms of possibility. Did you watch that Top Gear episode in China where they looked at 4 cars which are direct copies of British/German cars with different engines and materials? It just goes to show that that copyright means nothing there.

[ALPHA]

China is full of people copying each others items and making a buck of it so it's not out of the realms of possibility. Did you watch that Top Gear episode in China where they looked at 4 cars which are direct copies of British/German cars with different engines and materials? It just goes to show that that copyright means nothing there.

I think that says it all... In asia...copyrights and patents pretty much mean nothing...they have all found and use the loopholes ....by changing one feature..they can market a model how they wish...and also the reason one company "leads" and the rest follow...as they must find that little thing that will make the tank different...it's the same with everything..even tools...Ryobi is a no.1 manufacturer of tools...also Black and decker... I know right...they are considered by tradesman to be the cheapest and least likely to be seen on a build site ....well...it just so happens they also manufacture Dewalt.. Milwaukee... Porter Cable....Makita...amongst others
It's all about Economics...Many Companies will contract out to make production less costly

ALPHA