Tractor Mike makes some broad speculations from the data he displays.
Tractor Mike may be right. He may be wrong.
I will offer an alternative speculation concerning primarily <40-horsepower tractors.
Kubota, the dominant brand in the <40-horsepower tractor category, has been unable to meet demand for Kubota tractor Front End Loaders (FELs) for more than two years. Somewhere around 90% of <40-horsepower tractor were purchased with Loaders during the pre-Covid period 2014-2019.
I speculate that the major part of the decline in unit sales of <40-horsepower tractors is because of the domionate player's inability to deliver product: i.e. Kubota Loaders.
Is Kubota losing <40-horsepower tractor market share to other tractor brands? YES, UNQUESTIONABLY.
Are many Kubota customers waiting patiently/impatiently for delivery of Kubota FEL equipped tractors? YES, UNQUESTIONABLY.
This may also explain the relative strength of tractor sales >100 horsepower, few of which are sold with Loaders.
The larger question to me is why the twenty-year relative strength of the US Dollar, versus the Japanese Yen, has not decreased Kubota prices. Most <40-horsepower Kubota tractors would be around 60% Japanese production content by value.
Time lag until higher cost production inventory is sold? Transportation costs?
I do not know.
Nothing would surprise me about tractor sales numbers in 2021, a sales year distorted by Covid-19. Whoever had tractors, sold them.
I think one reason Kubota was down was Kubota's decision, perhaps forced, to prioritize parts deliveries over whole tractor assembly. Mahindra did the opposite. So the parts man at my local Kubota/Mahindra dealer told me.
Kubota to invest $140M in new Georgia factory, to hire 500 workers
Jun. 03, 2022 10:58 AM ET
Kubota Corporation (KUBTY)KUBTFBy:
Niloofer Shaikh, SA News Editor
A Japanese equipment maker, Kubota (
OTCPK:KUBTY)
plans to spend $140M to build a new factory in northeast Georgia, adding 500 workers to the 3,000 it already employs in the region.
The company said on Wednesday that it will build a new factory in Gainesville to make front-end loaders.
Kubota Manufacturing of America said the Georgia expansion would almost double front-end loader build capacity.
“We don’t currently have the facilities to meet customer demand,” Phil Sutton, vice president of Kubota Manufacturing of America, told The Times of Gainesville. "For Kubota, North America is our biggest tractor market now.”