<font color="green"> Could it just be a coincidence that JD is going to quit using Yanmar engines and has just entered into an agreement with a Chinese tractor manufacturer ? hmmmmm </font>
I would say that is very unlikely. Currently JD has business partners all over the globe. Each builds tractors for specific regions. They have a Korean partner who builds machines for the pacific rim nations, they have a Chinese partner because they wanted to enter the Chinese market and that is a very cost effective way to enter a market.
The contracts between JD & Yanmar have been in place for years, and there have been talks for quite some time that as they expired they would not be renewed. I'm not a JD guy, but I do follow some business news and there have been postings here on TBN and in some business publications talking about JD and its desires to expand into other markets. JD is a power house here in the states, but as close a just 10 years ago, the brand was unknown in many parts of the world. JD has been actively working to change its business model and has aggressively pushed into South America and Asia by forging alliances with new partners. Their main focus is on the real agricultural tractors and equipment. CUTS are really a niche product for many of the manufacturers, here in the US, the CUT market is really exploding, but I seriously question the long planned parting from Yanmar building their tractors would be based on a newly inked agreement with a different manufacturer. By the way, I believe they may continue to use Yanmar engines for several more years, I am under the impression that more and more of the tractors will be actually built here in the states, Yanmar engines may still power many of the smaller machines. Axels may come from Russia or Korea or South America . . . transmissions may come from somewhere in Europe . . . etc.
<font color="green"> Bob
I thought I had heard that JD bought or built a “small diesel” engine plant in Mexico and that is where the engines for many of their CUT's will be coming from. </font>
That may be true for some engines, but again, I beleive there are several years left on some of the Yanmar contracts for some specific things.
There is no question that JD is moving aggressively to an international business model. All their company data shows that, and it will make them a stronger competitor in the future, with a better cost model as well.
