This may or may not be the end. As I understand it, Escorts does not have 100 percent ownership of Farmtrac NA. Ive heard that they have invested a lot of money in the North American company. I'm wondering if this is not a means for Escorts to bury this company and start a wholly owned subsidiary to distribute their tractors. If employees are willing to volunteer, they must see a future that may not be apparent to the rest of us.
Hopefully, no ones tractors will end up totally orphaned, including the 8 I have in stock! We have suspended our retail sales or Farmtrac tractors until we know the complete story (especially warranty status). As a dealer, I have received no offical notice from the company concerning their status or plans.
LG/LS tractors are being sold by Montana and McCormick currently so those tractors will likely have parts support regardless of what Farmtrac does in the US. Also since this lay off seems to affect the US operation only. Parts should be no problem for the Escorts (Ford style) tractors as they remain in production in India.
My main concern is warranty support for my customers at this point. I think well know a lot more in a couple weeks. This could be really good news in the long run (no pun intended). Time will tell