Used tractors..where are they now?

[Bob_Skurka]

The way I understood it, Agco sold the name WHITE to MTD for the lawn tractor market but retained the name WHITE for ag equipment. So if I got the story right, White tractors and White lawn tractors are two completely different companies with White tractors being owned by Agco and White lawn tractors being owned by MTD.

Agco is the former Allis-Chalmers which was bought out by Deutz, and became Deutz-Allis and then bought out again in a "management buyout" so it is an American company again. Agco then purchased Heston, followed by White. Then White-New Idea (which was a different company than White). Somewhere in there is where I lose tract of it because I'm a member of the Hart-Parr Oliver Collectors Association and by this time all of that company and those tractors are gone.

But somewhere after White was gobbled up by Agco, then Agco picked up the rights to sell, but I don't thing they own, Massey Ferguson in the USA, or perhaps in all of North America? Maybe a Massey guy can jump in and let us know about that?

 

[mnriverrat]

where does caterpillar and agco come into play?

 

[Bob_Skurka]

So far as I know Agco and Cat are completely different. Agco is based in Atlanta, Cat is based in Peoria.

 

[oliver28472]

Cat was making rubber tracked ag tractors. That was bought out by Agco but still made by Cat, I think. In the deal, Agco was supposed to be able to utilize Cat dealerships to market the rubber tracked Challenger tractors. There are Cat combines and possibly some other equipment also which are part of this deal. I think this is why you see yellow Challeger compacts available from Agco. Don't know who makes them though. The 105 White was a mutation of the 1850 Oliver and used a Perkins diesel. They were both good tractors.

 

[Jagmandave]

Whew! And I thought things were crazy in the automobile biz!

 

[TractorTodd]

http://www.agcocorp.com/

 

[D7E]

I've seen SAME with AGCO decals?

 

[flusher]

Found this on the Web....

Used tractors are everywhere, but not all brands are still being made. Here is a list of defunct brands and their last known dates of manufacture.

Allis-Chalmers - 1985. Now a division of AGCO Corp.
Bolens-Iseki - 1988. Bolens now manufactured by Troy-Bilt.
Case-IH - 1999. Case now a subsidiary of New Holland.
David Brown - 1971. Sold as Case/David Brown until 1985.
Deutz-Allis - 1991. Deutz is now a division of AGCO Corp.
Deutz-Fahr - 1985. D-F merged with SAME Group in 1977.
Ford-New Holland - 1996. New Holland is now a subsidiary of Fiat.
Hesston-Fiat - 1991. Hesston is now a division of AGCO Corp.
IH-Farmall - 1985. Now a division of Case Corp.
Minneapolis-Moline - 1974. Assets purchased by White, a division of AGCO Corp.
Mitsubishi-Satoh - 1988. Mitsubishi is the OEM for pre-1995 Case compacts < 30HP and the current OEM for Cub Cadet compacts.
Oliver-Cockshutt - 1975.
Speedex - 1995. Assets purchased by Trans Tech International.
Yanmar - 1989. OEM for John Deere compacts < 40HP.

Check

TractorData.com - Tractor Manufacturer History Chart

for more of this type of historical info.

BTW: I saw this graphic on a recent posting on TBN. Don't remember the thread name.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

The way I understood it, Agco sold the name WHITE to MTD for the lawn tractor market but retained the name WHITE for ag equipment. So if I got the story right, White tractors and White lawn tractors are two completely different companies with White tractors being owned by Agco and White lawn tractors being owned by MTD.

Agco is the former Allis-Chalmers which was bought out by Deutz, and became Deutz-Allis and then bought out again in a "management buyout" so it is an American company again. Agco then purchased Heston, followed by White. Then White-New Idea (which was a different company than White). Somewhere in there is where I lose tract of it because I'm a member of the Hart-Parr Oliver Collectors Association and by this time all of that company and those tractors are gone.

But somewhere after White was gobbled up by Agco, then Agco picked up the rights to sell, but I don't thing they own, Massey Ferguson in the USA, or perhaps in all of North America? Maybe a Massey guy can jump in and let us know about that?

Hard to tell the players without a score card......

AGCO owns The name Massey Ferguson outright. In fact, I understand AGCO has big plans to "feature" the MF name as it consolidates a few of it's lines. Massey Ferguson is a VERY name-recognizable" company throughout the world, more so than in the U.S. After the buy out of Massey (by AGCO) was complete, they shifted production away from "Banner Lane" in England. Production of tractors in Detroit and in various Canadian plants had already ceased. Most Masseys are now produced in Italy as I understand. (LOTS of 'em built in South America too) Masseys were also produced under a licensing agreement with SAME and I believe Tafe. Some of those tractors were produced in Turkey.

In 1990 (???? + or - a year) Massey Ferguson bought out Perkins diesel. I don't know the specific date, but when Caterpillar and AGCO/MF reached their agreement on selling CHALENGER branded tractors, AGCO (MF) sold Perkins to CAT. AGCO will produce some of the Challenger tractor line. "Smaller" tractors of that line are actually no more than re-badged Masseys. CAT will continue to furnish Perkins engines to Massey. It is rumored that BIG Masseys will see CAT diesels in the very near future.

Doubtful AGCO and CAT could actually merge or one buy out the other. EU and U.S. anti trust laws would stop that one dead in the water. I was somewhat suprised the CAT aquisition of Perkins was "allowed". CAT doesn't need the debt load/low profitability/bleak market outlook associated with AG products. They were jumping up and down in the isles at CAT when AGCO took the Challenger line off their hands. CAT is one of, if not THE "soundest" company listed in the Dow 30 industrials. They didn't get to where they are by making rash judgements.

 

[dgl24087]

Cat was making rubber tracked ag tractors. That was bought out by Agco but still made by Cat, I think. In the deal, Agco was supposed to be able to utilize Cat dealerships to market the rubber tracked Challenger tractors. There are Cat combines and possibly some other equipment also which are part of this deal. I think this is why you see yellow Challeger compacts available from Agco. Don't know who makes them though. The 105 White was a mutation of the 1850 Oliver and used a Perkins diesel. They were both good tractors.

The Challenger compacts are same as the Massey, Iseki I think.