I know it's a old thread, but I only want to post more information about what is said in the thread for future reference and information.
To make this lengthy text a bit more explanatory I'm adding links to images of said tractors in the text.
As I'm from Sweden I will say I know some things about the tractors. After the merge of tractors from Volvo with Valmet in the 80's Valmet and Valtra (namechange) became adopted as the national used brand after the last national manufacturer was gone (Volvo went on with its construction equipment). Just up until 1 or 2 years ago Volvo->Valmet->Valtra was the single most sold brand in Sweden but John Deere has catched up. I would say mainly because of the nation wide agriculture sales company (that has switched a few brands through the years) took Valtra up again but also Fendt and Claas (former Renault) which they of course has to sell a few of.
Volvo bought the Swedish Bolinder-Munktell in the 50's and in the beginning of the 80's it formed a joint venture with Finish Valmet to make a
"nordic tractor" (the range 50
5-90
5 were all except the 905 were 4 cylinders tractors). This series and newer Valtra and Valmet are very expensive to buy as used machinery compared to any foreign brand. In the 80's there were also some smaller models (
sub 505 x05 and the
earlier 604) which where the old Valmet models painted red instead (before this moment valmet was
ugly yellow-brown) and
2x05 series which were the last farm tractors to be produced in Volvo's manufacture plant in Eskilstuna, Sweden. They were based on the former
Volvo 2654 model. Later Volvo sold off everything in the joint venture to Valmet.
In the later 90's Valmet's tractors division was bought by Partek (an industry company) and they were bought by another, KONE, later. None of which were into the agriculture business so in this way its good that Valtra ended up at AGCO (in 2004) that's main business is just agriculture. But long before that Valmet/Valtra where selling their engines to Massey Ferguson tractors. The bigger models of the old MF 3600-series had Valmet engine and Valmet used that tractor in the end of the
80's and first years for the 90's. Notice the cab, the same as MF but later Valmet made their own big tractors where there is a different cab. There is also some cooperation with Steyr at this time.
The Valtra tractors and its ancestors are known for being excellent forest tractors. In Sweden cut-to-length logging is used and a lot of farmers have some forest they maintain during the winter so the tractors doubles as logging machines. Former Volvo BM and Valmet/Valtra has always had a good ground clearance and the Valmet 505-905 series in the 80's started with flat floor and 180 degrees rotatable driver seat. In the 90's the TwinTrac reverse-drive system was added as a optional to the
6000 (4 cylinders) and
8000 series (6 cylinders) which have clutch, brakes, throttle and steering wheel in the reverse drive position (up until the
N-series and
T 1x1 series the wheel was side-mounted, now center-mounted).
In Sweden the big farmers don't use Valtra so much when it comes to 200+ hp. Valtra made a try with its S-series (made in Finland) a few years back (2002-?) but it didn't hit. Valtra's new S-series (270 - 370 hp, made in France) is a disguised Massey Ferguson 8600-series. But only the Valtra variant is available with reverse-drive system (twintrac).
Valtra is very late (the N and T-series) (delivery started this year) with continuously variable transmission, because they developed on their own in the labs and field testing for many years and even after AGCO bought them the very not outfitted with ZF made transmissions as many other brands has been. The CVT is in the "Direct" models (valtra.com lists them but not valtra.us, so I don't know if they are available in North America yet). "Versu" models are full-powershifts.
Valtra's A-series tractors are of very basic design. The root of that platform can be traced back to at least the 70's, it has never been "made from scratch" like the nordic tractor and later bigger models. E.g. it is available with manual hydraulics (electronic is an option) and no powershift gears at all. It over gaps the N-series a bit, where N is seen as a more premium model. But still the smallest of this series has for many years been the single most sold model of tractor in Sweden. The current Massey Ferguson 3600-series is a Valtra under the cover.
Someone wrote that the Valtra name was a shortening of VALmet TRActors. I don't know the original meaning but it is definitely nothing they came up with when they needed to change name (like Ford became New Holland when Fiat bought them, an old market name used again). The Valtra history (home page) information says that "Valtra" trademark had been registered back in 1963 and in the 70's used for machines built-on Valmet tractors or implements that were approved by Valmet.
One advantage the Valmet/Valtra brand has had is the high degree of customization of the tractors. I don't know if it is available in the rest of the world outside of the nordic European countries but here one could starting from 1989 order tractors
in several different colors. Also since long every tractor is built after ordered by the customer so they are nearly unique in the optional extras.
Valtra had a page on their website before where one could try this out with all different options. It has now disappeared but the Finish website still has it AND it is possible to change language via the link (they rest of the website is still in Finish). BUT the models in the English variant of the tractor customize page have all been replaced and the costs of each option is outdated. But can still be fun to check out.
http://www.valtra.fi/products/tractors/default_new.asp?from=0&COUNTRY=UK&SenderID=0
