Caterpillar management seems to blow with the wind anymore. They spend millions of dollars pioneering something new, run with it a couple of years and then change back just a fast with a waste of all that development money and people's time. Just look at the last fifteen years of engineering and you can see the lack of commitment and direction. First they will develop the ag segments, with no explanation they will sell all that off to AGCO. Then they think they might get into trucking with a Cat brand. Oops, that isn't producing like expected so that gets dumped. At the same time they determine they should revolutionize grader technology and now the wind changed direction and they go back to old tech again.
So my thought process is starting to run this way about Caterpillar products. Just what is it about the Caterpillar product line that warrants a 20% premium in price across the board? Why is there a 10% increase in price every year in all phases of Caterpillar business; new machines, parts and service? It looks at this point like they are trying to pay for management mistakes from the pockets of their customers.
