But the amount of debt Tonka took on was extremely heavy percent of the company's total capital. So now Tonka was under even more pressure to boost sales. Tonka lost money again in , despite a huge rise in operating income. Nevertheless, the company seemed to have some good things ahead of it. Tonka management was able to revitalize some of Kenner's failing brands, and it gained marketing and distribution networks in Europe.
Tonka also revamped its classic toy truck line and applied more sophisticated market research to its products. By a third of Tonka's sales and profits came from overseas markets, and this figure seemed to be growing.
With marketing pitches on television and on cereal boxes, Tonka also did brisk sales of a miniature electric car. So in spite of the precarious financial position imposed on it by its debt, Tonka seemed like it would manage to regain profitability in coming years. The optimistic picture of Tonka in the late s vanished in June At its annual meeting the toy company announced it had had two bad quarters in a row and predicted it would not finish the year in the black.
Sales of its toys tied to the movie Ghostbusters had plummeted, and the craze for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles--one of the most successful toy introductions of all time--depressed Tonka's market.
The company had lowered its debt burden from 86 percent of capital to around 70 percent, but this was still high, and Tonka began negotiating a waiver with its bank. Rumors of a takeover were published early in , and the outlines of a deal with the nation's number one toy maker, Hasbro, began to appear soon thereafter.
The price was said to be somewhat high, yet it was nevertheless lower than what Tonka had paid for Kenner Parker four years earlier. Tonka was folded into the Hasbro stable of companies, operating out of Hasbro's Pawtucket, Rhode Island headquarters.
Kenner and Parker Brothers became divisions of their own and, apparently, flourished under new ownership. The Tonka brand did not seem to fare as well. The Buddy L had battery-operated lights and sound effects and was priced similarly to Tonka's line. It took almost 30 percent of the market in Hasbro announced that it would update Tonka's packaging, and it introduced some new products, such as military vehicles that tied into Hasbro's famous GI Joe doll.
By the end of the s Hasbro was marketing a line of more than 30 Tonka trucks, vehicles, and playsets. Some were close to Tonka classics, such as the Mighty line and the durable Tonka dump truck.
Others were closer to the battery-operated, full-featured vehicles that had robbed Tonka of market share earlier. Another extension of the Tonka brand in the s was computer software featuring Tonka trucks. Kids using the software could simulate building and painting Tonka vehicles. This was apparently very successful. The Tonka interactive game, along with several others released by Hasbro, helped bring the company into fourth place in the expanding interactive game market.
This kind of creative brand extension seemed destined to keep the Tonka name alive despite the vast changes in the toy market and toy industry that had occurred over Tonka's lifetime. And, speaking of those classic cat-litter haulers, the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York officially inducted Tonka trucks into the hall in ; a worthy accomplishment for the childhood toy that inspired all of us, professional drivers or not, to get trucking.
I love my Tonka! Man, I love my truck! By Edward Green. Without your consent employers will not be able to contact with job offers, would you like to opt-in now? Each company we work with has specific experience requirements for their drivers.
In order for you to receive the best possible offers, please make sure your answers above are accurate prior to submitting. The plastic parts on the new trucks are an insult to the vintage trucks. I guess there is more profit in a watered down version of the classic toys.
Oh well, a happy toddler is worth it. What was the last year tonka made the trucks of metal? And how can i know what year a truck was made and its value today? Still, the whole vehicle weighed about 11 pounds. It makes perfect sense when you think about it.
Buy a Tonka truck. Buy a Sega. Accidentally smash the Sega with the truck. Buy another Sega. Actually, it made quite a few things that any child would rightly be chided for if they took them into the sandbox.
Over the years, Tonka built everything from ice cream trucks to IndyCars. There is an entire fleet of real-life trucks used for promotional purposes. Presumably, they prefer to spend their morning commute off-roading. Aaron Miller is the Rides editor for Supercompressor, and can be found on Twitter. The Tonka Truck was inducted to the National Toy Hall of Fame in , taking its rightful place among other iconic, inventive, and beloved toys.
In the past forty years Tonka has also manufactured a variety of other toys including dolls, figurines, stuffed animals, and video games. Seventy years ago, Tonka innovated the toy industry by creating functional, realistic, and durable trucks. Even now, millions of these trucks are sold each year, which is a testament to the vision shared by three residents of Hennepin County back in Our Tonka Toys collection was inventoried and cataloged as part of our larger collections inventory project.
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