The North American Equipment Dealers Assn. (NAEDA) recently announced six lawn and garden dealerships that have earned accreditation under NAEDA’s new Power Pro dealer program.

The six small engine dealerships earned accreditation by meeting industry standards related to operational performance and customer commitment. According to Joe Dykes, NAEDA director of OPE programs, “Power Pro is the mark of exceptional dealers. The program brands a dealership as a business where consumers can expect exceptional product knowledge, premium products, full service and complete satisfaction.”

The Engines and Power Products Div. of Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A., has announced a new distribution arrangement for Canada, effective this week. Stens, LLC, headquartered in Jasper, Ind., will become the distributor of Kawasaki-branded replacement engines and handheld power products to a network of more than 500 independent dealers in Canada. According to Rodger Howe, Kawasaki Director of Operations,

A few years ago I remember speaking with a dealership manager near Spokane, Wash., with a showroom full of snowmobiles who said he was getting out of it: There’s just not that much opportunity any more for snow-related product sales, he said. I wonder what he’s thinking now, as folks in and around Spokane dig out from more than 6 ft. of the cold wet white stuff that’s been dumped on their community since mid-December.

Horizon Distributors recently expanded its product line to offer Kawasaki handheld power products to customers in Georgia and North Carolina. The addition of Kawasaki products in Georgia and North Carolina is part of Horizon’s continuous expansion of product offerings to meet the growing needs of landscape contractors. Previously, Horizon has only supplied Colorado, Texas and Arizona.

“We’re happy to build new equipment for new fuels with increased ethanol but we will not sit idly by and put our customers’ safety and economic interests at risk.”—Kris Kiser, Outdoor Power Equipment Institute

The small engine-ethanol issue has gone national with a recent report on U.S. National Public Radio featuring an instructor at WyoTech automotive school in Laramie, Wyo., the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute’s executive VP of government affairs Kris Kiser and Ron Lamberty, a spokesman for the American Coalition of Ethanol.

Under the provocative headline “Ethanol Could Kill Your Small Engine,” the story is available as an audio podcast on the NPR web site (marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/12/30/pm_ethanol_kills/), while a full text of the interviews and feature are available here