Trojan HAD to find a niche because it is impossible to out-cheap bargain basement warfare and win. Made in Mexico batteries are done in the LTH plant in Monterrey Nuevo Leon as are Optima and others. Gigantic rail lines multi lane highways and vast border commercial crossing points. Everything but electrical power and diesel fuel is ridiculously cheaper this side of the border.
By processing reclaimed batteries for the lead costs are minimized. Trojan chooses the high-hurdles route. Better quality but crippled by significantly higher production costs. Rolls and their flooded batteries are also in the same boat. Lifeline of course is a domestically produced AGM product. Niche markets aredemanding. My alternators had to actually be tougher than factory originals. Just dealing with the famous, Ford, spin-open, rotor nightmare was tough. I had a special 6000 RPM lathe and hand held twin contactor 48 volts 9 amps. Those rotors that passed this test were dipped in urethane and baked. All rotor rebuilders SAND off cured varnish. Not me. A 3 hp motor powered a twisted wire brush and pole pieces were buffed clean whe still hot from the oven. Another lathe finished slip rings to around a quarter-thousandth of an inch. I purchased special re-wound stators from Bill Lund at Lund & Flynn Chula Vista CA. New used laminations meaning old copper windings were not burned to reclaim the old copper. Burning HARMS silicon coated laminations killing output versus rotor RPM.
Every one of my remans had new 150 amp rated rectifier bridges NTN LUA bearings and custom Saint Marys Carbon brushes. 12SI Delco alternators lost the useless turbine fan.
Yes they could not compete with Velcro and wingnut "Bringer back 500 times it has a lifetime warranty" garbage. But guess what -some- customers are smart enough to figure out what the game was and insisted on saving more money in the long-run.
The type of customer who did not drive 20 miles to save 25 cents a gallon on gasoline.
It all depends on what the customer can tolerate. "Vacation ruined? Shucks bringger back er, Fred isn't it? We'll find one that works! No matrer what it takes (you)"
