What happened to Massey Ferguson?

[LightningCamaroGuy]

Man, I am behind the times. I keep wondering what happened Massey Harris!

When I was a little kid my grandpa had a Massey Harris. I was so young that I don't remember it that well, but I remember it had the narrow front wheel setup.

 

[Creamer]

What i do not understand is how AGCO can build so many different machines for the different brands - like in Combines there are Massey Ferguson, Gleaner, and Fendt. All are very different designs. CNH does this Case International and New Holland combines.

For tractors AGCO builds Massey Ferguson, Fendt, and Valtra. All diffferent designs.

 

[Paystar]

Only place I see Masssey lacking is in the 26 h.p. compact class.

Their GC was always as good or better than the Kubota and Deere offerings, but they never had a competitive tractor in the 26 horse small frame size to compete with the Kubota B/Deere 2 R type tractors.

Their 1526 was always kinda outdated compared to the competition.

But I'm happy to see Agco finally let Massey have some leading technology in their new 9S tractor. First to come with factory central tie inflation, huge hydraulic flow, etc.

 

[Hay Dude]

With 100HP +, AGCO pushes Fendt too much. They have discontinued AGCO tractors, Challenger tractors and have deemphasized Massey tractors on the dealer lots to the point that you’d think they were being discontinued, too.
They are really flooding the market with Fendt.

 

[Paystar]

With 100HP +, AGCO pushes Fendt too much. They have discontinued AGCO tractors, Challenger tractors and have deemphasized Massey tractors on the dealer lots to the point that you’d think they were being discontinued, too.
They are really flooding the market with Fendt.

I agree. In my area right up into the 1980's there was nothing but Massey Ferguson's. Now all you see is those same old ones that are still working in the fields.
I still don't understand AGCO's marketing. Massey and orange Allis Chalmers were way more well known in North America than German Fendt.

 

[Peter 315]

Not many Massey tractors around here. On the big farms mostly Ford/New Holland , Case, JD. A few Massey dealers around but not real popular around here..

 

[can do]

Only place I see Masssey lacking is in the 26 h.p. compact class.

Their GC was always as good or better than the Kubota and Deere offerings, but they never had a competitive tractor in the 26 horse small frame size to compete with the Kubota B/Deere 2 R type tractors.

Their 1526 was always kinda outdated compared to the competition.

But I'm happy to see Agco finally let Massey have some leading technology in their new 9S tractor. First to come with factory central tie inflation, huge hydraulic flow, etc.

Hey Paystar. As a owner of a M-F 1526 (2018) it might of been outdated, But the competition could not beat them price wise in 2018. The style of the tractor may be out dated as well, But that's exactly what led me to purchase one in 2018. The newer 1526 have way more newer features now plus M-F offers a total of 3 different models in the 25 HP range, & 1 in 26 HP & up. Happy New Year too You.

 

[Paystar]

Hey Paystar. As a owner of a M-F 1526 (2018) it might of been outdated, But the competition could not beat them price wise in 2018. The style of the tractor may be out dated as well, But that's exactly what led me to purchase one in 2018. The newer 1526 have way more newer features now plus M-F offers a total of 3 different models in the 25 HP range, & 1 in 26 HP & up. Happy New Year too You.

Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with the Massey 1526. As you say it was a simple, reliable cost effective tractor.
They just didn't get the sales of the other brands because they didn't have all the "fluff" everyone wants, and the early ones were not available with backhoe or mid PTO if I remember correct? I almost bought one but dealer was telling me they were getting a big update for the new year so I waited, and the then the whole Massey line got updated and the 1526 was exactly the same, LOL

If they would have had an integrated loader joystick instead of that loader stanchion mounted one, and mid PTO and backhoe at the time I would have bought one no second thought.

 

[can do]

Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with the Massey 1526. As you say it was a simple, reliable cost effective tractor.
They just didn't get the sales of the other brands because they didn't have all the "fluff" everyone wants, and the early ones were not available with backhoe or mid PTO if I remember correct? I almost bought one but dealer was telling me they were getting a big update for the new year so I waited, and the then the whole Massey line got updated and the 1526 was exactly the same, LOL

If they would have had an integrated loader joystick instead of that loader stanchion mounted one, and mid PTO and backhoe at the time I would have bought one no second thought.

I do know they offered it on a 2018, But it was like pulling a hounds tooth to get one with the optional backhoe, & it was offered thru Woods at the time. The mid mount pto was a option as well which had to be ordered from the factory; Unless it was already installed on the order from the dealer, & was on the lot, But still a option . I've only seen 2 in the last five years that dealers were selling brand new with a backhoe on them.

 

[Jchonline]

Large MF dealer close to me, good folks they have a bunch of tractors on the lot. They do sell JCB as well...but tractors are all MF.

 

[paulsharvey]

If money wasn't a primary driving factor, u would have bought a MF 1760M power shuttle in a heart beat. The smaller frame 25 hp was pretty competitive price wise, but was smaller than I wanted. The E models are pretty basic, and the M ones are pretty nice, but the M's are a priced in the same neighborhood as the other 3 of the big 4, Kubota, Case/Newholland, JD.

I would have zero hesitatation with buying a MF.

 

[mo1]

Bankruptcies in the 90s killed all Massey dealers near me. Old iron I see ,not much of the new stuff.

They basically evaporated in this region too. I see plenty of the old 100 series and sometimes a few of the 6 and 8 cylinder 1000 series of the same vintage around, but rarely anything newer. I saw one 4700 series tractor moving hay about a year or so ago, and somebody was cutting hay with a newer one that I couldn't see all that well about 10 years ago, those were the only ones made since the '70s that I'd seen in the wild. Basically everything here from the mid-70s through about the 2000s is Deere or IH/CaseIH (mostly Deere), and the very occasional Ford. There was one dealer in the region that still sold Massey-Ferguson during that time period, they sold Ford and New Holland mostly but sold a few Masseys as a sideline. They then went out of business around 2000 or so and it wasn't until about a year ago that somebody else started a little independent dealership that sells Massey-Ferguson again. However even that dealership mostly sells cattle-handling equipment and trailers and not tractors.

 

[paulsharvey]

So, around here in north FLa, for 75-125hp machines; I would say it's clearly, #1 John Deere, #2: Kubota; #3: Massey; and #4: New Holland/Case. For Right of Way mowing (I mean roads/highways, not powerlines), I see same 1-3; farms, same deal; the one place I see New Holland seems to dominate is with the brush series tractors for powerline heavy mowing, with the special forestry package. Within 45 minutes of me, there is a Massey dealer that seems to be primarily sub 100hp; and another, about 1 hour NW, a primarily Ag Massey dealer.

For the smaller sub 60hp machines; I see a fair number of Masseys used as grading tractors, finish mowers (schools/parks).

When I was younger, it always seemed where I lived, the Clear #1 was Ford, then #2 was Massey, and #3/4 were far behind with John Deere and International/Case.

 

[Hay Dude]

Hard to understand why. I find the AGCO’s to be great. I would easily buy another and probably will. They are modern, loaded with features, have Cummins, SISU or Cat/Perkins diesels in them, plenty of dealer support and not bad looking tractors!

 

[can do]

Hard to understand why. I find the AGCO’s to be great. I would easily buy another and probably will. They are modern, loaded with features, have Cummins, SISU or Cat/Perkins diesels in them, plenty of dealer support and not bad looking tractors!

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[can do]

Those are some Mighty-Fine tractors.

 

[can do]

M-F= Mighty-Fine Tractors.

 

[can do]

Mighty-Fine tractors.

 

[Peter 315]

Looks like a big Cub Cadet/Yanmar LOL

 

[gckshea]

Well, my question prompted some interesting comments. My initial intent was to address why Massey seems ghostly in the current CUT foray of Kubota, JD, Kioti, TYM, New Holland, former Branson, and a number of less known. Massey hardly makes their list.

Yes, in the ag world, Massey has a little more handhold. And many of you see older Massey iron and call them present, but I'm speaking of today's market. Their apparent distance sure doesn't help their cause to remain competitive.

I have an LS. It's great. But it was and still is lesser % in the market. Massey is less than that!

Happy New Year, y'all.