FarmTrac Troubles

[SESS]

Just to let you all know our dealership, just received Press Release from Montana Looking alot Better. Waiting to see what is going to actually happen.

Farmtrac dealers received a fax from Farmtrac headquaters in October or November I believe it was stating that business was good and thanking the dealers for all their hard work in 2007 and to keep up the good work-obviously that was just smoke up our nose because look at where we (they) are now!

 

[SHIFTY]

Here is alittle info

Press Release

March 6, 2008


SPRINGDALE, Arkansas - Montana Tractors announced today that members of its ownership group had just returned from New Delhi, India where it had meetings with the owners and executive management team of Escorts, Ltd. the parent company of Farmtrac North America. “The meetings were held to discuss the possible business options available between the two companies”, stated Ted Wade, Vice-Chairman and Co-Owner of Montana Tractors. Wade said, “We have been in discussions with Escorts off and on for the better part of two years. We had not prior to these meetings been able to find a definition to the scope of what a relationship would mean between our two companies today and or in the future. We now feel we are close to bringing closure to these discussions. Montana Tractors plans on being very aggressive in growing its market share in what is going to be a very challenging compact tractor market this year. We felt we could not finalize our business plans for this year without bringing some closure to these conversations.”

Exclusive of these conversations, Montana Tractors has announced it will provide parts/service through its network on all LS tractors sold through the Farmtrac network, as long as the dealer is an existing Montana Dealer or becomes a Montana Dealer in the future.

Wade commented, “The Montana Tractor Brand and our Dealer Network have been and shall remain the main focus of our future business strategy. We will continue to look at opportunities to grow our business both internally and externally as value add business opportunities present themselves. At this juncture, we continue to emphasize our commitment to all our Associates, Dealers and Customers.”

Montana Tractors is a privately-held corporation, located in Springdale, Arkansas, and distributes compact and utility tractors throughout its dealer base in North America. It is the fastest growing brand of compact and utility tractors with models ranging from 23-to-70 horsepower. Montana Tractors currently employs approximately 70 personnel and assembles product at their plant in Springdale, as well as holds a distribution network of over 250 dealers in North America.

Farmtrac North America had been a distributor of compact and utility tractors in the U.S. until it ceased business operations in late January. Its operation in Tarboro, North Carolina was placed in receivership by a North Carolina court last week.

Ted Wade
Vice-Chairman and Co-Owner

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Is Escort the one that owns the old Ford line? If so I wonder if Montana is looking at buying that line more so than Farmtrac itself. I can not see any value in the Farmtrac name anymore and Montana already has the LS tractors so except for the old Fords what value is there for Montana in Farmtrac?

 

[bluechip]

Montana's offer to provide parts and service (warranty?) on LS made tractors could benefit them. Possibly preventing LS (formerly LG) from finding another importer to market thier tractors to replace farmtrac, and also requires the farmtrac dealer to be or to become a montana dealer. Perhaps they want to capture a portion of the Farmtrac dealer network without actually committing to invest in all or some of the assets of Farmtrac NA. Just my thoughts, I have NO inside information (outside info is also sparse). I read it that conversations are continuing and the offer to service LS tractors is made whether or not they acquire any assets from Farmtrac. No mention of the future of the old Ford style tractors from Escorts is made in this press release.

 

[SHIFTY]

I also wonder if they will take over Farmtrac's Loader and backhoe mfg faciality. Id have to agree with Bluechip that it would make sense to lock in LS line as well. I hope they have a large spray booth or new decals Maybe they will hyphenate the name as MontanaTrac

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

Just to add to the thread about tractor company troubles. I just found out that Agco has discontinued its compact tractor line. Those machines are still probably sold under their other brands, Massy and such. You won't see Agco branded machines any longer.

 

[slowzuki]

I think they are the little cat's too.

Local dealer won't like that, they sell more compacts since all the local farmland is getting chopped up into 5 acres play acreages.

Just to add to the thread about tractor company troubles. I just found out that Agco has discontinued its compact tractor line. Those machines are still probably sold under their other brands, Massy and such. You won't see Agco branded machines any longer.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Just to add to the thread about tractor company troubles. I just found out that Agco has discontinued its compact tractor line. Those machines are still probably sold under their other brands, Massy and such. You won't see Agco branded machines any longer.

Neil, it is my understanding that Agco is discontinuing all Agco branded tractors. Basically, they are doing away with the orange tractors and keeping the Massey and Challanger lines (why the Challanger line is beyond me but this is Agco we are talking about). They will also keep the Valtra and Fendt lines but in the future Agco is only going to be their parts network name.

I personally think it is a mistake to drop the orange tractors in the US. I would rather they have painted the Cats orange and Red and went that route instead of killing Orange again

 

[Tractech]

I too was told at a farm show that since the AGCO branded product line was only being offered in the U.S. they were going to drop that line. The branding just has not really worked for them very well. But then again neither has anything else AGCO touches. I am just waiting to see how long it takes the to totally ruin the Valtra line.

 

[JerryG]

Just to add to the thread about tractor company troubles. I just found out that Agco has discontinued its compact tractor line. Those machines are still probably sold under their other brands, Massy and such. You won't see Agco branded machines any longer.

Doing away with the AGCO line. About time, it was a waste of money to have a line with their name just for the sake of a name. Now they can put their money where it belongs.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Doing away with the AGCO line. About time, it was a waste of money to have a line with their name just for the sake of a name. Now they can put their money where it belongs.

What makes no sense to me is why they are keeping the Challanger brand over the Agco brand. Massey covers Agco's product range worldwide and Agco should never have dropped the White brand only to start the Challanger brand. Then there is the dropping of Allis from Agco's name which didn't help them here in the US.

Agco has never been able to build any brand recognition here in the US because they flip names way too often. I am waiting for them to drop Gleaner since Gleaner is only popular in the US and you can get the same Gleaner combine in Challanger and Massey brands.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

I've never seen a Challanger dealer before... or is that just me. I did know some Agco dealers. I had not heard about this happening to the entire line.

 

[JerryG]

What makes no sense to me is why they are keeping the Challanger brand over the Agco brand. Massey covers Agco's product range worldwide and Agco should never have dropped the White brand only to start the Challanger brand. Then there is the dropping of Allis from Agco's name which didn't help them here in the US.

Agco has never been able to build any brand recognition here in the US because they flip names way too often. I am waiting for them to drop Gleaner since Gleaner is only popular in the US and you can get the same Gleaner combine in Challanger and Massey brands.

I'm sure the only reason they are keeping the Challenger brand is because of Cat. If they weren't sold on their lots, they would drop that brand also. I'm with you on also dropping the Gleaner brand. The old guy at AGCO are trying to hold onto what they had years before and it isn't working. Massey is where their money is, so the other brands need to go. There is no since in duplicating so many machines.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I've never seen a Challanger dealer before... or is that just me. I did know some Agco dealers. I had not heard about this happening to the entire line.

There was an interview with Martin Richenhagen (Agco's president) in a Dutch tractor and machinery magazine recently in which he said there will be four strong brands for Agco. Massey Ferguson, Fendt, Valtra and Challenger.

Agco tractors are only available in North America while I guess Challenger has more appeal outside of North America because of the Cat connection.

 

[Bob_Young]

Farmers, being conservative, like to buy what worked well for them before. That's a big reason why JD has grown to what it is. It's why a blue tractor from India appealed to so many of us. When old-line names like White and Allis are 'bought and paid for' it seems nuts to cast them aside in favor of alphabet soup or something catchy.

The name is important and carries a lot of implied value. It's hard to believe a company as large as Agco doesn't understand that. It makes you wonder what else they don't understand.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Farmers, being conservative, like to buy what worked well for them before. That's a big reason why JD has grown to what it is. It's why a blue tractor from India appealed to so many of us. When old-line names like White and Allis are 'bought and paid for' it seems nuts to cast them aside in favor of alphabet soup or something catchy.

The name is important and carries a lot of implied value. It's hard to believe a company as large as Agco doesn't understand that. It makes you wonder what else they don't understand.

Agco has never understood the marketing aspect of a name. They have a name in Massey Ferguson that in the US has always been pushed behind Agco-Allis and White. When they dropped White I thought they would promote MF more but then they came up with Challanger when they aquired CAT. Now they are going to drop Agco and I have a feeling they are going to promote Challanger more then Massey Ferguson here again. And to top that off they have Fendt and Valtra that they hardly promote here in the US at all. They want a global name but can't commit to any one name to do so.

 

[waytech]

Why not start a new thread about other tractors? This one was to be about FarmTrac

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Agco has never understood the marketing aspect of a name. They have a name in Massey Ferguson that in the US has always been pushed behind Agco-Allis and White. When they dropped White I thought they would promote MF more but then they came up with Challanger when they aquired CAT. Now they are going to drop Agco and I have a feeling they are going to promote Challanger more then Massey Ferguson here again. And to top that off they have Fendt and Valtra that they hardly promote here in the US at all. They want a global name but can't commit to any one name to do so.

AGCO didn't own the Massey Ferguson name until far after they owned Allis Chalmers/Oliver/White/ect. AGCO bought the MF name more than 15 years after they bought White and AC. Once they got the Massey name, they've been gradually heading towards putting that name on most all of their AG line-up. AGCO would have never got their chance to buy MF had it not been for Conrad Black and his corporate raiding of MF. They were a solid company with fantastic sales numbers in the world market.

AGCO has a licensing agreement with Caterpillar regarding the Challenger line-up. Massey Ferguson owned Perkins diesel. When AGCO bought Massey FErguson, they got Perkins along with the deal. Caterpillar wanted Perkins. At owns Perkins now, and as a result of that deal, AGCO builds the Challenger tractor line which CAT dealers sell. Obviously we have a case where some of you aren't familiar with AGCO and are making comments based on what you DON'T know about them. They went after these "names" in order to get the name recognition and the dealer networks. By the time AGCO bought the names of Oliver/Cockshutt/White and Allis Chalmers, those brands wree so far behind the market, their products were no longer the "big name" they once were. Gleaner, which was owned by Allis Chalmers was the reason why AGCO went after AC. White had a line of air planters that was the envy of the industry at the time. AGCO went after White for them. As those products became obsolete, so did the names of Allis Chalmers and White. Beyond that, Massey Ferguson outsold White AND allis Chalmers in the worldwide tractor business by a huge margin. They're STILL one of the biggest sellers worldwide. MF combines have always been big sellers. AGCO's products are huge sellers overseas. In this day and age, the US market isn't the only focus of major AG manufacturing. In the last few years, AGCO, with the Massey FErguson name front and center, are making inroads to regain a stronger share of the US market. Their ties to Caterpillar won't hurt that one bit.

 

[glgdiggs]

When did this become an AGCO thread?

 

[Robert_in_NY]

AGCO didn't own the Massey Ferguson name until far after they owned Allis Chalmers/Oliver/White/ect. AGCO bought the MF name more than 15 years after they bought White and AC. Once they got the Massey name, they've been gradually heading towards putting that name on most all of their AG line-up. AGCO would have never got their chance to buy MF had it not been for Conrad Black and his corporate raiding of MF. They were a solid company with fantastic sales numbers in the world market.

AGCO has a licensing agreement with Caterpillar regarding the Challenger line-up. Massey Ferguson owned Perkins diesel. When AGCO bought Massey FErguson, they got Perkins along with the deal. Caterpillar wanted Perkins. At owns Perkins now, and as a result of that deal, AGCO builds the Challenger tractor line which CAT dealers sell. Obviously we have a case where some of you aren't familiar with AGCO and are making comments based on what you DON'T know about them. They went after these "names" in order to get the name recognition and the dealer networks. By the time AGCO bought the names of Oliver/Cockshutt/White and Allis Chalmers, those brands wree so far behind the market, their products were no longer the "big name" they once were. Gleaner, which was owned by Allis Chalmers was the reason why AGCO went after AC. White had a line of air planters that was the envy of the industry at the time. AGCO went after White for them. As those products became obsolete, so did the names of Allis Chalmers and White. Beyond that, Massey Ferguson outsold White AND allis Chalmers in the worldwide tractor business by a huge margin. They're STILL one of the biggest sellers worldwide. MF combines have always been big sellers. AGCO's products are huge sellers overseas. In this day and age, the US market isn't the only focus of major AG manufacturing. In the last few years, AGCO, with the Massey FErguson name front and center, are making inroads to regain a stronger share of the US market. Their ties to Caterpillar won't hurt that one bit.

Bill, I am going to start a new thread here http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1350713#post1350713