New Holland/Ford Compact Tractors

[NewHollandTN75]

Seems to me like New Holland/Ford compact tractors once were very prevalent, but today are less common. What happened? And what should the company do to bring it back?

 

[Wolfy]

Go back to the Shibaura design that was simple and reliable.

 

[Utopia Texas]

In my area in S.E. Texas you used to see a lot of Ford/New Hollands until Kubota came on the scene. The two New Holland dealers within 25 miles of me each have 10 or less new tractors to view. The Kubota dealer on the other hand has 55-60 different tractors to view from really small to some larger cabbed models. Visually seeing a bunch of different models all in one place where you can actually sit on the tractors and compare accessories makes the buy a lot easier for most folks. New Holland needs to be nicer to their dealers and make it easier to display more of the product line.
Would anyone buy from a car dealership that only had one pick up truck and one sedan on the lot???

 

[RickB]

New Holland parted ways with ISM (Shibaura) and crawled in bed with LS. ISM was beginning to have a pricing disadvantage, but LS just doesn't offer the features and ergonomics that blue compacts used to enjoy.

 

[RDrancher]

There are quite a few like mine around here. Once NH went to LS built units, and then the problems with early CVT, numbers went way down. My NH dealer is pretty good size and carries exactly zero NH CUT's. They do carry Mahindra, though I've never actually seen one in the field, only on the lot.

Utopia makes a good point about Kubota. You see them everywhere around here and there are a whole bunch to take a look at.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

New Holland parted ways with ISM (Shibaura) and crawled in bed with LS. ISM was beginning to have a pricing disadvantage, but LS just doesn't offer the features and ergonomics that blue compacts used to enjoy.

I disagree completely. The LS compact tractors have good ergonomics and more features than most compact tractors (such as rear remotes and extendable lower links as standard equipment).

I think the killer for NH is simple: Why would anyone buy a tractor with an inferior FEL just because it says "New Holland" on it, when they could buy the same tractor with a better loader for $5,000 - $7,000 less from LS?

Also consider that other brands like Kioti have taken market share from NH.

 

[fishheadbob]

I bleed NH blue but had to buy a JD subcompact since NH just didn't have the configuration I needed. My dealer said exactly that, too. He didn't try to sell me a Mahindra which he carried. ? Having known this guy as a good customer for decades and since he was out of the running I asked him whether I'd be happier with the Deere or a similar Kubota. I had firm nearly equal prices on both. No hesitation with the reply. Deere in a heartbeat, you won't be happy with the Kubota.
Over a cup of coffee he complained that he was missing a lot of sales in small tractors because NH wasn't offering many choices in the small tractor line.

 

[RickB]

I disagree completely. The LS compact tractors have good ergonomics and more features than most compact tractors (such as rear remotes and extendable lower links as standard equipment).

I think the killer for NH is simple: Why would anyone buy a tractor with an inferior FEL just because it says "New Holland" on it, when they could buy the same tractor with a better loader for $5,000 - $7,000 less from LS?

Also consider that other brands like Kioti have taken market share from NH.

We have been a Kioti dealer for almost 4 years in addition to 40 as a Ford / New Holland store.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

We have been a Kioti dealer for almost 4 years in addition to 40 as a Ford / New Holland store.

My local dealer is a long-time New Holland dealer who has also been a Mahindra dealer for a few years. I think they sell a few NH compacts, but seem to sell a lot more Mahindras.

 

[TSO]

I disagree completely. The LS compact tractors have good ergonomics and more features than most compact tractors (such as rear remotes and extendable lower links as standard equipment).

I think the killer for NH is simple: Why would anyone buy a tractor with an inferior FEL just because it says "New Holland" on it, when they could buy the same tractor with a better loader for $5,000 - $7,000 less from LS?

Also consider that other brands like Kioti have taken market share from NH.

Exactly... people crack me up when they complain about the LS built tractors compared to the Shibaura ones. The LS tractors are very reliable. Check the NH threads, see how many threads involve problems with TC models (Shibaura builds) or case DX ... then how few involve problems with the LS builds.

I'm not saying the LS builds are better ... I'm just saying they're not worse.

The internet has given folks the ability to buy their blue tractor directly from the manufacturer ... skipping NH and their price hikes, and going right to LS.