Tractor News Kubota gearing up to play with the big boys

Bigfoot62 · Mar 16, 2019

TheMadOne said:
Looks like Kubota will soon have 265-365HP tractors with orange paint and a dedicated maple syrup tank.

I wonder what CNH's response to this will be? They never really had a product worth fighting for in the compact/subcompact market, and seemed content to let dealers sell the occasional M instead of a Maxxum, but now there's an orange competitor to their bread-and-butter magnum/genesis line. There's a lot of dealers who sell red/blue and orange.

Competition is generally a good thing. I say bring it on. Time will tell and farmers will purchase what works. I can tell you that in my area, the big boys are mostly green with red in distant second, and everybody else way behind that. I would guess JD has 70% of the market, Case has 25%, and all others share 5%.

To venture a guess as to what CNH will do, I say who knows. I do know that several local NH dealers were forced to "pick one or the other." They were selling NH and Kubota, or NH and Mahindra, etc., and CNH forced them to choose or loose. In each case, it was CNH that lost, because the dealer chose to keep the other tractor line. BTW, now it's 100+ miles from me to the nearest NH dealer. If I need parts, even an oil filter, I have to buy after-market or order online. Anybody want to buy a good, clean used NH?

In my opinion, CNH has gone to pot since Fiat bought them out anyway.

looch · Mar 16, 2019

Bigfoot62 said:
Competition is generally a good thing. I say bring it on. Time will tell and farmers will purchase what works. I can tell you that in my area, the big boys are mostly green with red in distant second, and everybody else way behind that. I would guess JD has 70% of the market, Case has 25%, and all others share 5%.

To venture a guess as to what CNH will do, I say who knows. I do know that several local NH dealers were forced to "pick one or the other." They were selling NH and Kubota, or NH and Mahindra, etc., and CNH forced them to choose or loose. In each case, it was CNH that lost, because the dealer chose to keep the other tractor line. BTW, now it's 100+ miles from me to the nearest NH dealer. If I need parts, even an oil filter, I have to buy after-market or order online. Anybody want to buy a good, clean used NH? In my opinion, CNH has gone to pot since Fiat bought them out anyway.

Kubota did the same thing up here - all Kubota or we're pulling your dealership. The mostly ag dealer decided to stick with MF and I was without a local Kubota dealer for the better part of 3 years. Case and JD are the big ones out here. There are a few that have opted for Deutz-Fahr, which I suspect is probably a pledge of allegiance to their ancestry.

RickB · Mar 16, 2019

Not every Kubota dealer will be offered nor will seek a sales contract for this type of machine, just as today not all can sell an M7.
Kubota currently has a lot of work to do to be able to properly support current volumes of the product line. This deal will take years to have any meaningful impact.

hks003 · Mar 21, 2019

Here in the south Arkansas delta, green seems to be king. But, more and more farmers are leasing their equipment then when it comes time to re-up go find the cheapest one for that year. From that, I'm seeing more NH and IC machines around.

Paystar · Mar 24, 2019

looch said:
Kubota did the same thing up here - all Kubota or we're pulling your dealership. The mostly ag dealer decided to stick with MF and I was without a local Kubota dealer for the better part of 3 years. Case and JD are the big ones out here. There are a few that have opted for Deutz-Fahr, which I suspect is probably a pledge of allegiance to their ancestry.

Must be a regional thing, or maybe based on volumes? Because my dealer is a Kubota and John Deere dealer. They sell full line of both from compacts to ag tractors and implements. And I can tell you they sell a LOT of Kubota's. Their yard is always a sea of orange.
But they recently told me John Deere still holds market share over 70 h.p and kubota owns 54% of all tractors under 70 h.p., but that is starting to change.
Yes it will a while before Kubota makes a dent in the big tractor sales, but they are serious to succeed.

And Versatile was and still is a good tractor. After all, that is where Ford/New Holland stole all their big 4wd articulated tractor designs from, when they used to own them.

TheMadOne · Mar 24, 2019

Paystar said:
And Versatile was and still is a good tractor. After all, that is where Ford/New Holland stole all their big 4wd articulated tractor designs from, when they used to own them.

Um, no?

I'm pretty sure what happened was the Case merger forced New Holland to start selling Steigers, instead of Versatiles. Just like they gutted every other Ford/New Holland line in favor of the Case equivalent with blue paint. Did New Holland somehow give Versatile trade secrets to Steiger? Not that I'm aware of.

Versatile losing the contract work with New Holland really put them on their back foot. I'm glad they've been able to recover.

Paystar · Mar 24, 2019

TheMadOne said:
Um, no?

I'm pretty sure what happened was the Case merger forced New Holland to start selling Steigers, instead of Versatiles. Just like they gutted every other Ford/New Holland line in favor of the Case equivalent with blue paint. Did New Holland somehow give Versatile trade secrets to Steiger? Not that I'm aware of.

Versatile losing the contract work with New Holland really put them on their back foot. I'm glad they've been able to recover.

What do you think the Ford, then New Holland big 4WD's were. They were repainted Versatiles.

TheMadOne · Mar 24, 2019

Paystar said:
What do you think the Ford, then New Holland big 4WD's were. They were repainted Versatiles.

Correct. They were Versatiles, made in Versatiles' Winnipeg factory, by Versatiles' workers. Then painted in Ford/New Holland colors. None of this is at all what you previously said when you claimed that New Holland had stolen the design from Versatile.

That's like saying Mahindra is stealing designs from TYM.

Paystar · Mar 24, 2019

Maybe I didn't use the correct wording, but kinda the same idea.

CNH raped Versy of patents before they sold them- CNH kept the bi- directional tractor - which Versy pioneered and sold, the Genesis tractor which featured the Supersteer front axle is another that was stolen.

When the US federal judge ordered one of the 4wd lines be sold off, they chose Versatile because it had more value than Steiger.