What has happened to Losi?

[Eau Rouge]

...racers are only about 15% of the total RC market.

It's actually more like 3%.

[shodog]

Realize that RC companies are really tightening the belts. RC cars aqre a luxury item whose popularity ebbs and flows with the economy. I guess we're lucky that the main players are still playin.

[RCveteran]

I wouldn't take any of this too seriously at the end of the day. I run all sorts of makes after being away for a while. I do enjoy beating my Traxxas Stampede as much as I enjoy restoring and driving vintage JRx2's, XX and RC-10's and everything in between.

Let's be glad the biggest worry we have is about toy cars

[aconsola]

losi has lots of good products out currently, I've bought many new losi rc's in the last few years. I don't know much about their team racing program, but they have vehicles for many competition classes. They seem to be concentrating on promoting 1/8 scale on the racing side over any other class, but are active in competition crawling, and have some nice entry level oval racers.
One thing I don't like about losi is that they are all prebuilt products, even the newer "race" vehicles are rollers. (I used quotes on race as the comp crawler is considered a race roller)
It seems like they do a lot of platform sharing between vehicles, but this cuts down on replacement parts needed and eliminates some of the change for the sake of change that often occurs.

[Vintagemishal]

They have made good quality products for a long time. My only complaint about Losi quality is in regards to a JRXS I had. Worst touring car I ever raced. That car broke very easy with only minor contact with other cars. I have never been a huge Losi fan, but appreciate that they have been in the game a long time and do not want to see them go away. I currently own a JRXT, (2) XXT's, and a XXXT among all my other cars. I recently went to the Losi website and was shocked to see most of the top drivers were not there anymore. I think I saw that Adam Drake was still with them, but that was about it.

[JK Racing]

They had a prototype 4wd SC truck at the Hot Rod Shootout this year. It won the open 4wd SC class against some very good drivers and proven platforms. I believe both prototypes made the A main.

There have been many rumors about a new 1/10 2wd buggy in the works, as well as a replacement to the Edsel, oh, I mean strike(out). Strike was a great concept that was probably watered down by corporate greed and rushed to market. IMHO.

They would be late to the game with a competitive 2wd SC, but there are enough of us die hard losi fans to get units moving off the shelves. I currently run the Blitz because of too many AE fanboys touting the SC10 as the end all for SC. Losi gets theirs to market, I may just be moving back to my "roots" with a Losi stable for daily racing.

[markt311]

I agree with JK, companies have to adapt to the current market or they will go out of business. AE did it.


BTW JK, I run a Losi XXXT MF2 with a CRC conversion in 2wd mod SCT. I sold my SC10 to get it. Best SC truck I've ever driven.

[kaiser]

i miss the old days of losi. i had been out of rc for 17 years, when i returned i had to see what losi was up to.
i was not happy at what i found, gil sr sold the family farm, gil jr off to kyosho (can't blame the guy, and kyosho is still a top tier manufacturer), what was left was a bunch of rtr junk built for the masses.

i'll admit that when i was young i was a team losi fanboy. i raced jrx2's, jrxt's and before i left rc a xx, all three of those cars raised the bar in 1/10 off road.

hey at least gil jr is still at it with aka and his pals mark and joel. aka should build a new 2wd 1/10 racer. i'd buy just for principle, and that it would probably be awesome.

losi's newest offerings make traxxas look competitive. (i can't speak for 1/8 though)

[N2Deep]

My real first racing vehicle was the JRX-2. Picked it up after seeing a review on R/C Car Action. Best looking vehicle from all angles except the top. At any rate, I'm sure Losi Jr. is doing what he can to make something for the R/C community. That's his life. If anyone had ever owned a business themselves, they should know that the competition is very fierce. When you have to deal with executive decisions because everything is all about money you begin to realize how hard it is to get something that is reasonably priced at an exceptional performance. From what I read and heard, Losi Sr. and Jr. had to sell the company to Horizon because Horizon has a bigger marketing department. There were issues between how things were ran at a business level then at the product level. Jr. stands behind his ingenuity and design, he stands behind the concept and art of making nice efficient vehicles. The clash between top management and Jr. is that management is looking for ways to "cheapen" the product at cost level and even shortcutting Jr.'s work. Gil Losi Jr is an engineer in plastic injection molding. Losi was the first company to come up with the "stiffizel" material for the buggy and they were the first one to make true race grade rubber tires. If anyone has been in the r/c industry long enough, they know that the Losi family made the best rubber tires out there back the in the very early 80's. What Jr. really need are some very good engineers who have knowledge in computer designs and moldings. To be able to draft up a plan for a chassis takes more time on the computer then anything else. With the U.S. producing fat kids and not really knowing any high level mathematics and science, we all are doomed to mediocre Traxxas plastic moldings. Not to bash on Losi's Team Drivers but lucrative deals were made so that they can win big races for Team Losi. That was a high expense for Team Losi because every kit they produce and sold....and they had to sell a lot just to pay the factory drivers. Unlike the NFL, Nascar, and NBA where the elite of this world is pouring billions of dollars to get the masses "dumbed down" to leisure past time...the r/c industry doesn't have that support, plus they don't sell beer nor drink it while racing or else everyone's considered drunk drivers and no one will get to the checkered flag.

[one]

You guys act like Losi just started cutting costs. I'd like for everyone to look up a review on a little car called the Losi Junior Two.

[one]

You know it seems like every hobby shop is all Traxxas now? how sad is that. back in the day when I worked at a hobby shop Traxxas parts were unheard of. complete junk you couldn’t get parts for. now their like cock roaches everywere.

Do you know why that is? Because Traxxas is the Hyundai of the RC world. They were laughed at through the 90's and decided they were tired of being laughed at. Fired everyone, hired top notch engineers, and came back to be one of the best products on the market...... now you can't tell who I am talking about..... Traxxas or Hyundai. Both flipped around 180 degrees. The only difference is I still won't buy a Hyundai. I have bought into Traxxas though because they are tough, fast, and at the top of their game.

[Lonestar]

Guys - just a quick note for the non-believers... Mike Truhe just won the ROAR nats in 2wd mod last week with (you guessed it) a Losi XXX-Cr So the cat ain't truly dead yet

re traxxas - like it or not but RC owes them quite a bit. They were able to revive the market in the late 90's with popularizing the monster truck (Tmaxx anyone?)... and they pulled that trick again with the SC two years ago. Every time, they bring a lot of new blood to the sport. I'm not found of their products really (although the Revo suspension sure does look sweet) but Without the bad T, 50% of the tracks would probably be closed by now...

Paul

[RCveteran]

Well I did not win a 2wd nat this past wekend, I did turn faster lap times with my XX Kinwald than many running newer cars on a makeshift course with some cones, some concrete jumps, and the offroad straight a bark chip section in back of a factory. Does that count

As for Traxxas, I have to agree, there is room for all and they have done a lot to bring new folk into the hobby that otherwise would not be here. Sure I was around in the days when they seemed to just copy other stuff, but 20 years later I have bigger things to worry about. When I want to go jump off of big things and generally just bash around quite frankly my Stampede is the most fun car I have. Does not mean I don't love my JRX2, XX, gold tub RC10's all the way up to my new R10T4, etc. Can't take this stuff too serioulsy.

[amx73]

I've been into R/C for 18yrs, and I have owned tons of cars from all manufacturers. One of my first real race cars I got was a JRX2!! There are trends in this hobby like everything else in the world. I have owned several Traxxas cars and always had fun with them. Losi is in a slump but, all they need is one car design to change all that. Look what Traxxas has done for racing with the SC trucks...it's brilliant, and it's there turn. Losi had there's and will again. Think of all those guys and gals with Losi XXXT's and Associated T4 sitting on a shelf cus everyone races Short Course! Back in the day we raced what was fast, popular, and had the best parts support. That's why when I bought a Schumacher Cougar, people laughed! Well, the same principal applies today...just have fun, and don't take any of this to seriously. It's all in good fun, and the spirit of competition. I don't fault Losi for doing what he did. Put yourself in his shoe's and until you are in that sitiuation, everyone is just a critic. The guy is a legend, and revolutionized car design! Now, lets pull out the old JRX2's and RC10's and show up at the Nat's or Worlds with our Novak chargers, 1700 SCR packs, and Monster Horsepower motors and put a beating on the new school!!!

[kaiser]

I've been into R/C for 18yrs, and I have owned tons of cars from all manufacturers. One of my first real race cars I got was a JRX2!! There are trends in this hobby like everything else in the world. I have owned several Traxxas cars and always had fun with them. Losi is in a slump but, all they need is one car design to change all that. Look what Traxxas has done for racing with the SC trucks...it's brilliant, and it's there turn. Losi had there's and will again. Think of all those guys and gals with Losi XXXT's and Associated T4 sitting on a shelf cus everyone races Short Course! Back in the day we raced what was fast, popular, and had the best parts support. That's why when I bought a Schumacher Cougar, people laughed! Well, the same principal applies today...just have fun, and don't take any of this to seriously. It's all in good fun, and the spirit of competition. I don't fault Losi for doing what he did. Put yourself in his shoe's and until you are in that sitiuation, everyone is just a critic. The guy is a legend, and revolutionized car design! Now, lets pull out the old JRX2's and RC10's and show up at the Nat's or Worlds with our Novak chargers, 1700 SCR packs, and Monster Horsepower motors and put a beating on the new school!!!

i think you are confusing gil sr and gil jr. gil jr is the man, the legend and the guy that revolutionized car design. gil sr was the owner and the one who sold out to horizon.

@lonestar, i don't think anyone said that the xxx isn't up to todays standards. it's the "rtr" line up that makes people say "what happened to losi. (at least i think it is)
alot of their offerings are less then quality. highroller, strike, micros all a bunch of junk compared to true losi race machines.

think about the b4 and the xxx, they are both aging but aging well. how much farther can they take 1/10 offroad? everything i can think of has been done.