Dear EasyEd
First off let me say that this is just my opinion based on what I have read here, other sources and my experience in general. I am a Canadian and have never seen a Farmtrac tractor or heard of them before I bought my Montana and started looking into the whole industry. I have great sympathy for the employees that lost their jobs, Any time a company closes their doors it is a bad thing for everyone. I also have to believe that everything that was required by law was done after all Farmtrac was an American company governed by American laws. As a friend of mine (law enforcement) says 努hen Justice and Legal are the same, it is a coincidence, they are not really related.
1. Farmtrac used to be a private company that bought parts from different suppliers (kits) and assembled the tractors at a factory in the US. A number of years ago they were on the edge of belly up when a India company who Farmtrac was buying kits from bought it, so that they could continue selling kits into the US market. The 擢armtrac equipment was manufactured off shore and assembled in the US similar to just about every other small tractor sold in North America.
2. Texton is in the business of lending money, and like a lot of other lending institutions they made it incredibly easy to borrow money. Farmtrac took advantage of that by sending inventory to dealers that wasn't ordered. Apparently the agreement that the dealers had with Farmtrac allowed the total value of the equipment to be financed thru Textron (similar to the local grocery store delivering stuff to your house while you are out of town and hitting your credit card for the cost). Also there seemed to be a less then 0% deal for the final customer we will inflate the price, you borrow more then you need from Textron and each month we (Farmtrac) will send you a check for 度 that you can use to make your payment to Textron.
3. I doubt if the company from India ever went 澱elly up? Some exec decided they weren't making enough cash with the Farmtrac company so he said no more. The result was that Farmtrac went into receivership. (might not be the correct term I am Canadian and the terminology may be different) but at any rate Farmtrac is no more.
4. Textron lends money and yes they expect it to be paid back according to the terms of the contract they have with the dealers and or customers. I don't see why they would ask for anything other then the terms of the contract, they make money by lending it out. The fact that the dealers don't/can't sell their inventory or the customers are not getting a check for 度 from Farmtrac is irrelevant to Textron, as it should be.
5. I don't know who the final customers should be angry with, there is a third party warranty provider, and parts can be purchased from any other company in the world that handles the kit that the original tractor was made from. Granted it is a pain in the rear and it may or may not be the local dealer they bought the tractor from but it can be done.
6. Dealers no longer have a Farmtrac dealership there is no Farmtrac, they have the option of signing on with a different manufacturer / distributor or get out of the business. Yes it is a pain in the rear but it is up to them what they want to do.
7. I don't know if it was an event worth noting on the the India parent company's books. Some exec decided that Farmtrac wasn't making enough money so they shut it down the cheapest way they could. They met all the requirements that were legally required. All of the assets of Farmtrac were sold, and whatever cash was raised was sent to the creditors. End of story.
As I said before I have no personal interest, other then learning from someone else's mistakes. I think this forum has become a crying session for a couple of dealers that don't want to get on with their life (or 1 person with a couple of aliases gota love the internet).
If you own a Farmtrac tractor I suspect your dealer is going to have to find a new supplier or you will have to find a different dealer to deal with. If you are a ex Farmtrac dealer I think you got screwed, but life goes on, if you want to continue being a tractor dealer find a new supplier that you are comfortable dealing with big company that manufactures and has an exec somewhere, or a smaller company that distributes with people you know. Your choice.
I don't think calling everyone from India crooks is fair, or insinuating that Textron is going broke and shouldn't be dealt with because they expect their money back is just plain petty. If I were to base my opinion of Americans based on this forum it would be pretty bad.
But please don't believe everything you read on the internet (this forum included), life is much better then that.
Gary
