It is made by a China company that MTD has owned for a long time. They are just being introduced to the American market. I have herd for some on here that it is a good engine. Toro has been putting it on some mowers for 2 years now I think. I am not going to talk bad about them as we have not seen a single issue on here about them. Just remember China can make either crap or really good stuff just matters how well you pay them.