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New 2011 Weber Model BBQ Grills Big Changes

Weber has been making reliable gas barbecues for over 30 years and Weber customer Service is legendary not only in our industry but across all types of businesses.  In 2007 Weber made some gigantic changes to the standard model of barbecues that had not had many design changes in over a decade.  In 2007 Weber unveiled a new barbeque.  The new Genesis was not a new name on an old grill design like the Genesis Silver, Gold and Platinum models were iterations of the earlier Spirit models.  There were minor changes but the overall barbeque stayed the same with a new name.  In 2007 the model known as Genesis Silver, Gold, Platinum became known as the Weber Spirit E-210, E-310 and E-320.  The Genesis model barbecues that came out were a new design — the first really new design on over 10 years.  At the time Weber assurred all of us (”us” being the fanatically loyal “5-Star Dealer network) that a change of this magnitude only happened every 10 – 15 years and would not happen again. It has happened again.  If you have now or have ever in the past owned a Weber Genesis or Spirit model barbeque look again at the new Genesis pictured above.  The primary architectural design of the Weber gas barbecues has always dictated that the knobs mount to the gas manifold on the right shelf of the BBQ.  The burners have always run off the control valve from right to left across the cooking surface.  Weber and their affiliates have written many articles and given lessons about the level of research that makes the Weber model a better cooker because of this burner design.  Many customers would follow directions for lighting the front and back burners, leaving the center burner off for convection, indirect barbecuing.

In 2011, this has changed.  New Weber gas BBQ grills have a completely different structure.  Because of customer questions and the popularity of the Weber Summit gas barbecues we have had many conversations with Weber designers about the direction of the burners.  The problem for Weber has always been that with over 30 years of producing the same design (even while marketing changes the name) it would be a monumental task to change the direction of the burners, the gas line manifold, ignition system and the control panel design. In 2011 they decided to go for the big challenge and have released another brand new barbeque grill design.  The burners now run from the front to the back of the Weber BBQ firebox.

Here is a picture of the New Weber Genesis firebox with the burners exposed.  The  knobs are different, control panel, gas manifold, control knobs, heat shields (flavorizers) have all be changed for the new 2011 model releases. These new 2011 Spirit, Genesis and Summit barbeque models have not been released yet so we have not been able to touch one, cook on one or put it together yet. I don’t work for Weber but if I had to guess I would guess these changes have something to do with the Ducane acquisition about 5 years ago. If you have ever used an original Ducane barbeque grill you already know Ducane’s heading claimed “Buy Your Last Grill First”.  The original Ducane barbecue grills implemented many new ideas including rotisserie burners before the invention of infrared burners and searing grates before barbeque grills were searing steaks.

When Ducane was looking to close their doors, Weber came to the rescue with many millions of dollars.

Unfortunately the Ducane barbeque became another over-seas import.  At the time bog retailers like the Home Depot, Costco and Lowes were bringing in their own barbecues from overseas and marking them with their own private labels (Members Mark, Perfect Flame, Kirkland, Turbo, Charmglow, etc) and both quality and price started to fall.  In order to remain competitive in these markets, Weber brought in the Ducane made very inexpensively, sold very cheap.

In 2007 Weber’s new catalog and new dealer price book surprised many of us because prices were lowered.

We discovered the reason for the lower pricing was that some of the Weber barbecues were being manufactured in the new Ducane factory in Asia.  As higher-tier dealers for Weber who stocked the whole Weber line-up we waited to see if the lower pricing and workmanship would impact the sales of grills.  It did not become problematic because Weber did something that Charmglow, Kirkland, Turbo, etc did not do.  Weber/Ducame honored their warranty.  Customers were very happy even when a burner went bad nine months after purchasing the grill new they still loved Weber because Weber sent out a whole new set of burners. Working overseas limits a great amount of cost.  Although most of us rightly believe that a company goes overseas to escape the laws and regulations that protect us as employees and citizens and to make inferior products it is truly less expensive to manufacture commodities overseas.  I do not yet know if the new Genesis barbecues with the burners mounted front and back are made in Illinois or in South East Asia but I cannot imaging the expense involved in redesigning the entire model line-up to re-invent the Weber Genesis barbeque.

What is certain is that next year Weber will depart the expected and – once again – make the biggest change the Weber barbeque models have even undergone.  Weber barbecues that have had right-left burners for three decades will have burners mounted fron to back for the first time ever. Last year Weber introduced the “sear zone” in some models of Summit barbecues.  The Summit has been the high-end of the Weber models.  Summir models of Weber grills have always had front to back mounted burners and have had more features and benefits than the Spirit or Genesis models.  Summit models have options for infrared rotisserie, side burner, smoker box and lights.  Last year Weber introduced a new rotisserie motor that stays under the side shelf when not in use.  Weber also introduced awesome grill lights that automatically turn on when the hood opens, lighted control knobs and a sear zone.  Even without the technology to create an infrared gas burner in a Weber gas grill, Weber released a Summit model with the ability to sear a steak with temeratures exceeding eight hundred degrees.  Weber did this with the addition of a single pipe burner right down the middle of the existing S-450 and S650 Summit models. The new premium model Weber Genesis barbeque grills are also going to be available with this extra pipe burner for searing temperatures.

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