About a year ago I bought a Hustler Raptor 52-inch ZRT from Lowes. The main reason I bought it was it came with a Kawasaki FR series engine(residential). The other reason is that Hustler mowers have a solid reputation and great reviews and are made here in the U.S. In my view, both Honda (which would have been my first choice for an engine) and Kawasaki made good business decisions to build assembly plants here. Kohler went to China to manufacture some of their engines. Kohler went CHEAP.