[WaltherP99]

If you consider, Walther is about as expensive as Glock and definitely a better and refined product. It's not as expensive as HK or Sig but its handling should rival those guns. But it is just not as well received or widespread as other types of guns.

It is almost like the Steyr M9, good gun but can't get wide appeal, and had to resort to value pricing, ie. 400 (or in case of Steyr, below 300), just to get into the US market.

 

[r1blur]

Well, in Houston (if you can find a P99) the prices are about $100+ over what you will pay for a G19.
Almost no P99 are to be found here at local shops and very few when the gun shows are in town. I had to order both of my P99.
Even the local sporting good stores carry Glocks. Visibility and availability is probably part of the problem for Walther.

 

[ShipWreck]

Yes, I agree. I tried to track one down, and only Collectors had one. I think they wanted around $700 for the damn thing - althought they are $100-$150 overpriced on all their handguns.

I finally got the S&W99 at the Reliant gunshow when I couldn't get a fullsize P99 A/S (at least not in person) in 9mm.

After after a month of bicthing and moaning, my local shop managed to get me the compact P99.

 

[BreakerDave]

A lot of it has to do with marketing and timing. When Walther P99's first hit America they were more expensive than they are now and Glock already dominated the polymer pistol market. Add to that, it was not readily apparent what functional advantages the Walther offered over the Glock to justify the premium. If you're in the market for a self defense pistol and you want a polymer framed gun, which gun are you going for, the one that a lot of law enforcement agencies are using and that has a host of accessories or a more expensive one from Walther that no one knows anything about?

Quite a bit of that has changed now. The P99 is now offered at a price that is competitive with Glock and there are a variety of holsters and other accessories now available for the P99. Still you have to get past the gun counter BS in order to sell something that isn't what every high speed military unit or law enforcement agency is using.

I've encountered a lot of people who are now in love with guns chambered the .357 SIG because that's what the Federal Air Marshals bought a few years back. The reasoning at the gun counter is the Federal Air Marshals are the best shooters in Federal Law Enforcement so they must know what they're doing and have a good compelling reason to buy guns in .357 SIG. They did have a compelling reason, but it had to do with price not performance. The Secret Service got a deal offered on pistols chambered in .357 SIG and the Federal Air Marshals joined that purchase order. -Walther has to confront that buyer mentality when selling their P99's.

You can offer something for a competitive price that is better, but if you can't communicate that effectively to the marketplace, you're going to have a difficult time making a buck.

 

[P88]

After collecting Walther's for well over a decade now, I've come to think that Walther just doesn't care that much about selling in North America. They are a European company and cater to Europeans. They have plenty of contracts within the European market. I don't think they want to grow that big either. They like to stay somewhat small, as compared to Glock and S&W.

 

[DTQ]

Ya know, Beta and 8 tracks were both superior technologies in their day as well...

But Beta lost out to VHS and 8 track lost to the 4 track cassette. Even the mini-disc couldn't compete with the crappy little cassette, then came the short lived DAT just to eek out some 4 track quality. Just cause everyone else likes Glock don't really mean nuthin to me, 'cept of course in accessories like lasers an such.

It's like the proverbial "Bridge"...
If everybody else shoved a Glock IWB would you do it too?


Apparently not.

 

[Jake Starr]

Walther's main failure is in marketing its product.

Umarex is such a huge corporation that their subsidiary market in the firearms field via Walther is not a major concern.

The U.S. civilian market is not worthy of their time and effort.

 

[ikiddp5]

Marketing... We have to concede that Glock has been outstanding in marketing their gun...Glocks has the biggest rate of appearances in TV shows and Hollywood Movies. (maybe it has to do with some "Hollywood effect").
Glock has made excellent deals with LE agencies, offering them good, low maintenance, simple to use guns (less trainning time) at low price, hence, civilians asume that LE agencies must be using the best and more reliable gun in the market. And that's all i have to say about it.

 

[sniper350]

Ikiddp5 hit the nail on the head.......Glock went aggressively after the LE market

Many times giving their guns away....just to get the agency dependent on Glock. Glock had a trade in program a few years back where they went after LE agencies that had Beretta 92's. Told them they would give them one "new" Glock for each 92 they traded in. A lot of dept.'s jumped at the chance to get new guns at NO cost to them........trouble is it was the "bean-counters" that wanted this trade and not necessarily the guys working the streets. Then the company making the Glocks........took the used Beretta 92's and sold them for MORE profit then they were getting for each new Glock pistol that they made. Pretty smart....... !!

Walther does want to get into the fight................but they are coming late to the game. That is why you don't see any AS trigger groups with imported Walthers. They are customizing their imports to meet the LE demand for a safe DA trigger pull. It is true they could care less about the civilian demand. Win one contract with say NYC PD for pistols and you have just sold about 30,000 guns. That's one department folks ! It doesn't take but a few large LE contracts to fill a need for over 100,000 guns.

So you can easily see why Glock would give guns away in order to get their foot in the door.......and then slam it shut against any other pistol makers. The only thing the bean-counters cared about was that the pistols went - BANG - each time you pulled the trigger with a certain amount of reliability.

Walther had the right idea years ago when they took the TOO expensive P-88 and trimmed it down into the P-99 to sell to the LE community. What they failed to realize and comprehend is that the AS trigger group was too advanced for the average LE employee to use with minimal training and minimal practice.

JF.

 

[RCK]

I'm with Sniper350 on this one.

If memory serves, Glock has for a long time had a "buyback" program that would enable a department to cycle out their old guns - including old Glocks - for new ones.  Just like a car dealership makes out on a trade-in, they would sell the old ones as "previously owned", and lock in the new sale, thereby locking out any other vendors.

Very smart, indeed.

 

[kkramer673]

I've had a P99 for a couple of years, and think it's every bit as good a wapon as my H&K P2000, my Springfield XD9, etc. I think Walthers aren't very popular in the U. S. because they don't market here. When's the last time you saw as pathetic a website as Walther's? Compare it to Beretta's, Kimber's Springfield's, and others. In the U. S., Walther is its own worst enemy.

 

[onebigcubano]

Just to add something that hasn't been mentioned...P99 designs are unusual.

1) Decocker integrated into the slide? All other guns have levers of some sort.
2) Mag release integrated into the trigger guard? All other guns have a button on the side. HK is the closest with a button-type in the trigger guard.
3) No safeties at all which scares somes people. Yes, even Glocks have a "safety" system.

Furthermore, in general, if you don't work for the government and live in the United States...you own a 1911. Which means a manual safety and chambered in .45ACP...which the P99 is neither. Yes lots of people have other types of guns...but lets be general here.

 

[onebigcubano]

+1 for non-existant marketing
+1 for poorly updated website

 

[toeball]

Actually, the P99 incorporates all the same safety features as the Glocks, but they also add a fully supported chamber. The drop safety built into the trigger is more out of the wa than the Glocks but it's still there. There are no "external" safeties, which is what makes people uncomfortable, but that's simply keeping your finger out of the trigger guard untill you're ready to shoot.