Vic buys Wenger

S

sfs08

Joined
Apr 2, 2005
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33
As quoted from here,I just thought more people might want to see/know about this!

''Hi guys!

Victorinox has announced that they've merged with Wenger. It looks like both companies will keep operating independently for now.

Good news or bad? Surprising after 100 years of competition!

Full details here: http://www.victorinox.ch/newsite/en/index.htm (click on the second news item at the bottom).

Guy ''
 
Whats more surprising is that I thought it violated Swiss law against monopoloy in business.
 
STR said:
Whats more surprising is that I thought it violated Swiss law against monopoloy in business.
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Perhaps they are moving production and the company offshore to China?
 
I am not surpirzed. Wenger never came close to parity with Victorinox. Not in terms of popularity and not in terms of quality. I still would have preferred some healthy competition. Now that Vic is going to be a monopolist, even with two brands out there, it can engage in market differentiation techniques without fearing a competitor.

RIP Wenger.
 
I think that it was rather generous of Victorinox. It seemed to me that Wenger was fading fast. I just spent a couple days looking for a Wenger Golf Pro model as a going away gift for a coworker who golfs. I couldn't find one within 50 miles of Colorado Springs. There are only a couple chains around town that carry Wengers at all. There are at least a dozen outlets for Vics.
 
STR said:
Whats more surprising is that I thought it violated Swiss law against monopoloy in business.
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The Swiss government is not hampered by either free market or socialist ideology. They feel anything that helps Swiss industries defeat foreign competition is a good thing.
 
Cougar Allen said:
The Swiss government is not hampered by either free market or socialist ideology. They feel anything that helps Swiss industries defeat foreign competition is a good thing.
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Wouldn't it be great if our government felt that way again.
 
Cougar Allen said:
The Swiss government is not hampered by either free market or socialist ideology. They feel anything that helps Swiss industries defeat foreign competition is a good thing.
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Might there not be a slight problem?

The Swiss government/military chose Wenger as another source for their Soldier's/Swiss Army Knife.

With Wenger now owned by Victorinox would they still be regarded as another/separate source?
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Vincent

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As far as I know, the Swiss army uses only Vics (at least that was the case when I was in the Swiss army in the mid 1980s). Also - in Switzerland the Vics have a much higher "prestige rating" - although that is a personal observation of mine and nothing more.

Cheers!
 
Personally I've had both brands and the one I've carried the longest, in fact the record holder as far as knives in my pocket most all the time is my Wenger SAK. I've enjoyed it for a number of reasons over the Vics in my safe. Mainly because of the serratted scissors that have never dulled, but also because of the locking main blade and screwdriver and the leaf spring vs that clip spring in the Vic scissors and pliers.

But I agree there are things about both that have merit. I wish the scissor was the larger Vic style with serrattions. I also wish the fit and finish had been up with the Vic. Regardless it has withstood into the mid teens in age being in my pocket. Eddie Bauer stores still sell them, you just have to put up with his name on the handles and pay three times more than they are worth to get one. It is kind of funny that you say the Vic has a higher prestige because everywhere I have seen the Wengers they have commanded the higher price. The Eddie Bauer line of Wengers is perhaps some of the highest priced SAKS anywhere.
 
just curious - can anyone tell me what Wenger model could be considered as their top-of-the-line/flagship?
 
tnozh said:
As far as I know, the Swiss army uses only Vics (at least that was the case when I was in the Swiss army in the mid 1980s). Also - in Switzerland the Vics have a much higher "prestige rating" - although that is a personal observation of mine and nothing more.

Cheers!
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The last I heard--which I think was an article in Blade magazine--the Swiss government bought from each.

Personally, I am stunned by the news, and always liked the Wenger scissors better (the little spring in the Vic always breaks) and preferred the blade geometry in the can opener blade. Oh well, the Vic sells better anyway. . . . .
 
ArmsMerchant said:
The last I heard--which I think was an article in Blade magazine--the Swiss government bought from each.
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that is quite possible. as I said - I can only speak about what I saw myself and that was only a very small part of what used to be a large military (4 Army Corps after mob.).
 
ArmsMerchant said:
The last I heard--which I think was an article in Blade magazine--the Swiss government bought from each
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You are absolutely correct. I did a seach on the net and found a swiss article which says Victorinox and Wenger evenly share the rights to provide the Swiss military with knives, although demand has dropped over the past few years because of a declining number of army personn (and gives some details on the Vic/Wenger deal).

mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa :(
 
tnozh said:
I still would have preferred some healthy competition. Now that Vic is going to be a monopolist, even with two brands out there, it can engage in market differentiation techniques without fearing a competitor.

RIP Wenger.
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Aren't multi-tools giving them competition?
 
I bet multitools are giving the old-style multiple blade knives a lot of competition, which is why Victorinox is so heavily invested in multitools. They have what's probably the heaviest-duty multis, and have a slimmer line out now, too.
 
knifedaddy84 said:
Aren't multi-tools giving them competition?
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probably. at least in markets in which tool *use* is more important then tool image. I would imagine than in the USA cheaper but high quality multi tools might put pressure on Vic. But in other markets where a SAK is as much as symbol as a tool (Middle-East, FE-Asia, Russia and to a certain degree Western Europe I suppose) and which multitool competitors still need to penetrate Vic's position should be fairly secure.

Does this make sense or am I missing something?
 
Esav Benyamin said:
I bet multitools are giving the old-style multiple blade knives a lot of competition.
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Say - have you ever seena comparison between multi-tools and "knives" like the SwissChamp XLT which come with more tools than blades? I would be most interested in not so much by a model versus model comparison as by a concept versus concept, i.e. - "multi-tooled-knives" versus "blade-equipped-multi-tools" (although the former would still be of interest to me). If yes - could you please post the link?

Thanks & cheers!
 
I'm not sure what you mean. By multitool, I'm referring to folding pliers with tools in the handles. These have a different purpose than a small SAK, which is fine for general utility. Multitools are more industrial. I carried them on my job, in place of the small Vice-Grip and screwdrivers I had carried before the first Leatherman came out.

The only SAK I had with pliers was a Wenger, which was much clumsier than any multitool I've used, and the pliers actually blocked the use of one of the blades.

I still sometimes carry my Victorinox Ranger for a walk in the woods, which is the smallest SAK I've found with scissors, saw, and file, and it's not exactly small. I might as well carry a multitool in a belt pouch.

I also have an Eddie Bauer Wenger that I got on sale, that was certainly their largest model at the time. It makes a great desk knife but I can't imagine carrying anything so bulky, with such lightweight tools.
 
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