Outdoor power equipment (OPE) manufacturers’ year-over year dealer satisfaction scores held steady in 2025. The 73% satisfaction rate once again tied shortline equipment as the best among the four categories studied by NAEDA (full-line, tractors, OPE and shortline manufacturers). Only 12% of OPE dealers expressed dissatisfaction, compared to 11% for shortlines.
The OPE score is a staggering distance from the 24% and 28% marks in dissatisfaction for full-line and tractor manufacturers, respectively.
The 2025 Dealer’s Choice Award for OPE manufacturers went to Walker. Grasshopper came away with a Gold Level Award this year. The Dealer’s Choice Award for the tractor manufacturers went to TYM, with Yanmar snagging the Gold Level Award.
What Dealers Value Most
In terms of the importance of each category to the dealers, the top 5 — Product Quality, Parts Availability, Parts Quality, Manufacturer Response to Dealer Needs/Concerns and Product Technical Support — remained the same since the 2024 report, but there were a few slight shifts lower down on the list.
The areas that dealers value most are:
- Product Quality: 94%
- Parts Availability: 94%
- Parts Quality: 93%
- Manufacturer Response to Dealer Needs/Concerns: 92%
- Product Technical Support: 92%
- Product Availability: 85%
- Warranty Payments: 87%
- Communication with Management: 85%
- Warranty Procedure: 84%
- Marketing & Advertising Support: 73%
- Return Privileges: 72%
Company by Company Results
As seen in Table 1, there 2 OPE manufacturers that dominated dealers’ rankings.
Walker had the highest mean score of all OPE manufacturers at 6.2. It also had the highest score in 8 categories (Communication with Management, Marketing & Advertising Support, Manufacturer Response to Dealer Needs/Concerns, Parts Quality, Product Technical Support, Return Privileges, Warranty Payments and Warranty Procedures). Grasshopper had the highest score in 4 categories (Overall Satisfaction, Parts Availability, Product Availability and Product Quality).
While Grasshopper only saw its score improve in 1 category over last year, it had the second highest average mean score at 6.03 and secured the highest score in 4 categories.
Husqvarna had the worst scores in 11 categories, while Cub Cadet had the lowest in a single category.
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