What's the deal with Mooney at Airventure?

FloridaPilot

FloridaPilot

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For some reason I wanted to see Mooney make a splash this year. So the first place I went to see was the Mooney Tent. I got in the Mock airplane and I loved the room. I also got in the Acclaim and I was impressed. I love Mooney aircraft but for some reason it seems like not many others do. I took a picture of the area while I was there:

GOPR1881.JPG Mooney.jpg
 
Now if you look at Cirrus they have a lot more going on. I like both Aircraft but Cirrus marketing is running circles around other GA makers:

GOPR1833.JPG
 
Just my opinion, but I think it has a lot to do with the price tag. Cirrus also has the Vision Jet which generated a lot of interest. The market has to be incredibly small for an $800K piston single...
 
idahoflier said:
Just my opinion, but I think it has a lot to do with the price tag. Cirrus also has the Vision Jet which generated a lot of interest. The market has to be incredibly small for an $800K piston single...
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According to the gallery on here, the market for a 400K single is even smaller, so what gives?
 
The fence. Some Marketing/PR guys live in the past and believe on making their business available for few "VIPs" whereas Cirrus says "we're open for everybody" but they can profile you and your pockets in seconds :)
 
rene86mx said:
The fence.
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This. For whatever reason, Mooney has always had a marketing challenge with any plane other than the J.

It doesn’t help when your marketers are jerks, either.
 
TCABM said:
...It doesn’t help when your marketers are jerks, either.
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Probably gets tiresome when you're endlessly being compared with Cirrus...
 
Mooney has terrible customer service. I've tried calling, sending emails, all to get some pretty basic info that they for some reason leave out on their website. They either dont know, say "let me get back to you" or simply dont respond. After 3 phone calls and 5 emails I realized theres a reason they dont build many airplanes.
 
GRG55 said:
Probably gets tiresome when you're endlessly being compared with Cirrus...
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Honestly, I prefer M over either C. My experience was at the COS AOPA fly in a couple years ago, pre-ultra. It was low-key, look at it if you want but if you have to ask you can’t afford it.
 
hindsight2020 said:
According to the gallery on here, the market for a 400K single is even smaller, so what gives?
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If Cirrus cut the price of a new SR-22T (with all the goodies) to $400k even I might start looking for a partner to come in for half with me. ;)

But they are now firmly in 1%er territory with the $2+ million v-jet, and the other 99% of us can't scratch up $400k for a recreational toy.

I gotta admit I find it humorously ironic that some of the most expensive personal use piston airplanes in the world are being made by a unit of the Chinese government.
 
FloridaPilot said:
Now if you look at Cirrus they have a lot more going on.
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Is it just me, or there's a small fresh grave near the right side of Cirrus' tent? Looks like a mound of dirt and a cross on top of it. The size about right for someone's child.
 
zaitcev said:
Is it just me, or there's a small fresh grave near the right side of Cirrus' tent? Looks like a mound of dirt and a cross on top of it. The size about right for someone's child.
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it's a topiary lol
 
Mooney’s marketing leaves a lot to be desired. They could certainly learn from Cirrus. I will say their management got an ear full in Oshkosh from Mooney owners. By the middle of he week any Mooney owner that showed up got a VIP pass, invitation to watch the air show from the roof top, free drinks, etc. I stopped by and their chief test pilot approached me and he was as nice as he could be. Answered all my questions and did a good job of selling the brand. Others, however, had a different experience. Enough to **** people off and someone forwarded the negative comments in Mooneyspace to their management.


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Funny, I didn't have bad customer service with Mooney while I was at OSH. I know one of the sales guys. His name is Richard. Great guy known him for many years. He doesn't work at Sun and Fun anymore which is where I met him he works at Osh and moved to the west coast. I personally didn't have a problem with customer service at all they were actually great but I didn't have that experience at Sun and Fun either.

Cirrus customer service was good as well and I spoke to a guy named Ryan. I asked him how many Cirrus have been ordered he said 400 this year alone. His philosophy was: "Even if I believe that a person is not capable of buying I'm going to give them the best customer service I can because it might set up future business for me or they might've told a friend" ......That is a good attitude to have!
 
If memory serves me wasn't the Mooney booth on one of the side isles and not the main isle like Cirrus? But yes, Cirrus marketing is way better as I am sure most people think Mooney is an extinct brand. Let's be honest though, most people shopping for a piston single in this price bracket are after something comfortable yet safe for the family, not all out performance which is why Cirrus is the market leader. I hear it all the time from Cirrus owners when asked why they picked that aircraft "It has a nicely appointed roomy cockpit and the significant other liked the parachute".
 
GRG55 said:
If Cirrus cut the price of a new SR-22T (with all the goodies) to $400k even I might start looking for a partner to come in for half with me. ;)

But they are now firmly in 1%er territory with the $2+ million v-jet, and the other 99% of us can't scratch up $400k for a recreational toy.
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If it were $400k there should be a lot more people able to but into it, especially as a group. Two or three people can share a plane easily. I've been in a group of four on a SR22 before and even that worked great. There's a significant number of people that could shell out $100-200k in capital, or afford to finance some portion of it.

Owners of new SR22s are already firmly in the 1% territory. Those buying the jet are in the 0.1% or higher range, more are probably above the 0.1% income level.

The SR22T starts at $709,900. The GTS version starts at $859,900, and that's without ice protection. There are plenty of options that can push the price north of $900k.

The 1% divided into four groups; reference.

zeropointzeroone-income-1050.png
 
Mooney...meh...sat in a new one and it felt cheap to me. Still rockin the old G1000 still, etc. Meh.
 
rene86mx said:
The fence.
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The fence was for sure an uncommon deterrent to casual viewers. I stood outside the fence briefly and peered in, but there was so much more to see elsewhere, and I didn't have a sense that I was invited inside the fence, so I moved on.
 
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zaitcev said:
Is it just me, or there's a small fresh grave near the right side of Cirrus' tent? Looks like a mound of dirt and a cross on top of it. The size about right for someone's child.
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Apparently, that is where they are going to bury Mooney! :(

Grum.Man said:
If memory serves me wasn't the Mooney booth on one of the side isles and not the main isle like Cirrus? But yes, Cirrus marketing is way better as I am sure most people think Mooney is an extinct brand. Let's be honest though, most people shopping for a piston single in this price bracket are after something comfortable yet safe for the family, not all out performance which is why Cirrus is the market leader. I hear it all the time from Cirrus owners when asked why they picked that aircraft "It has a nicely appointed roomy cockpit and the significant other liked the parachute".
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If that were true Corvettes wouldn't sell, I know the prices are different but not many people would turn down one of the fastest pistons ever made! 242 Cruise with 100 Gallons on board. Useful is under a thousand (I believe it's 975) so you can't bring the family with full fuel but the seats are also really comfortable in the back which I tested. Most GA flyers are alone or with a buddy and this would fit nicely.

CC268 said:
Mooney...meh...sat in a new one and it felt cheap to me. Still rockin the old G1000 still, etc. Meh.
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G1000 Nxi
 
It would've been great if Mooney got one of there representatives to speak about their new Continental TSIO-550-G engines while they hand out free beverages I would've stayed to watch. PW PT6A had an engine on display and someone from the factory was onsite and I spoke to him for a few hours. I was very impressed!



GOPR1881.JPG
 
It feels good to be in the top 0.01%...gotta tell ya
 
We’re all the Mooney reps Chinese?
 
Grum.Man said:
Let's be honest though, most people shopping for a piston single in this price bracket are after something comfortable yet safe for the family, not all out performance which is why Cirrus is the market leader. I hear it all the time from Cirrus owners when asked why they picked that aircraft "It has a nicely appointed roomy cockpit and the significant other liked the parachute".
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+1

Wide cabin with a good view; for a low wing. My wife, and many of my Angel Flight passengers, really like not having a yoke in front of them. Partially as it takes up space, but they as fear touching it might do something bad, like crash the plane. My wife knows she can touch the yoke and nothing will happen, but she's still concerns about even touching the yoke.

Two doors is also a big seller, which is why Mooney added that. It helps in loading 3 or 4 people and not having the front passenger have to wait for the pilot to enter before they can get in. Or when the stoopid pilot forgets a chock and has to get out and the front passenger also has to get out. DAMHIK :oops:
 
Worked a booth at OSH in 2013, and went back in a friends Mooney in 2016. Maybe Mooney wanted to keep the general airshow riff-raff out? Not a good look, regardless. My friend wanted to get some Mooney gear (anything!) for his daughter, and take a look at the newest models (G1000, two doors). You'd have thought that we had woken the sales guy up from a nap by kicking his cat, and for some reason he couldn't unlock the pilot's side door.

End result, we left with a bad taste and he went home with a "Cirrus Life" hoodie for his daughter (where we got the grand tour).

I won't get into the Mooney/Cirrus near-religious battle other than to say that the cabin access makes it a non-starter for me and my wife.

Scott
 
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It was the same way last year at osh with these guys. I don’t know but assume they don’t sell many airplanes. They will not be on my short list of piston singles when I am ready to upgrade in the next year or two. Good, bad, or indifferent....Cirrus gets it
 
Mooney's owner, Meijing Group, seems to be mainly a real estate company in China, judging from the pictures in their Chinese-language website:
http://www.mjgroup.cn/jituanyewu/

Maybe the real-estate owners like the idea of a fence. Kind of like the Great Wall.
 
What is meijings interest in Mooney then? I would have guessed the same as cirrus capital ownership. Acquire moribund (read cheap to acquire to them) American assets in order to mine intellectual/technology property (to include engine tech in the case of tcm) in order to get ahead of the native pilot training demand for pilots in China. In the end the m10 didn't go forward, so now this company sits idle under their Chinese overlords. That's my theory anyways. Point being, I don't see Mooney being an in earnest actor in selling airplanes to americans. They re a storefront for an empty store that's in a completely different business these days. Can't really get upset at the token presence and behavior at fly ins, when it's merely reflective of that fact.
 
Since they killed the M10 project I think they lost some flair in their game. I would say they lost interest, at least from younger pilots. I saw their booth and walked right past it. The Acclaim ultra is a well crafted airplane but nothing about it is attractive (to me).
 
Mooney’s suck now





Okay okay I’m kidding
 
rene86mx said:
The fence.
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^^ This. I walked by and would have kicked the tires, but with the fence around the booth, I assumed it was a Mooney VIP-only area and just passed on by.
 
Did they have a fence around the Mooney displays last year at Osh?

I believe people are reaching when they say Mooney sucks!

(I did see the little text as well) ;)
 
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CJones said:
^^ This. I walked by and would have kicked the tires, but with the fence around the booth, I assumed it was a Mooney VIP-only area and just passed on by.
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I was there representing EAA and I stayed out of fenced areas. A fence is a boundary and I assume you want less people in your area. I complied! I don't need a Mooney or a Cirrus, but there were many booths that put up fences this year. Fine with me, I'll keep on moving and part of what I do is take photos of people in booths!

Now as far as an image goes, I always find GoPro an interesting one. They put out bean bag chairs and a lot of people in GoPro shirts are sleeping on them all the time! Made me laugh and take photos about every time I walked by if nothing else. I guess it worked though, my photo of them did make the EAA Photo page!
 
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