Welcome to this special edition of Walker Talk in Europe. In 1977, when we designed the first Walker, we were not thinking of market potential in Europe. In fact, we were not thinking about market potential anywhere. The Walker design was approached from the starting point of making a machine to do a job (mow and vacuum landscaped areas) rather than designing to fit a market. When marketing was started in 1980, we stayed close to home in Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma. But to our surprise, the markets began to open quickly across the United States, Canada and overseas. We found that the job the Walker was designed to do had wide application and wide market potential.
The first Walker arrived in Europe in 1984. We were introduced to Mr. Sven Gillfors from Malmo, Sweden, a long-time manufacturer's representative, at the Louisville Power Expo in 1985. With Mr. Gillfors leading the way, the Walker premiered at the GAFA Show in Cologne, Germany, in 1986 with first containers shipped to France, Sweden and Switzerland for the 1987 spring season. Today (1999), nearly 5,000 Walkers are in Europe, amounting to 11% of the total Walkers produced.
We have benefited from more than just selling machines in Europe. From working in the European market, we have improved our design, making a better machine for all markets. Also, a special "Euro" deck was developed to improve performance in European mowing conditions.
Yes, a lot would have been missed if we had not had the opportunity to be in Europe. The biggest loss would be not meeting and working with the wonderful people of Europe: representatives, distributors, dealers and customers. It is a great pleasure to introduce many of these people in this magazine. They are all part of the Walker story. Speaking of introductions, I would like to introduce our readers to Mr. Wolfgang Loerli and Mr. Poul Erik Jacobsen of E-Gate as our manufacturing representatives in Europe. Mr. Gillfors retired about two years ago, and E-Gate has assumed this position with us.
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