DavesTractor said:
I sure hate to defend Kubota
, but in our area, they are well respected in the ag (orchard) market. I think a lot of opinions are based on your own reality....and a lot of that stems from where you live.
Dave, up here in Western New York I have access to 30 head dairy farms, 3000 head dairy farms. Small grain farms, 9000 acre grain farms. Small and large hay operations. Vegetable farms, Orchards, Vineyards and large horse farms. We don't have very many cattle farms up here though. But we have a large variety of farm operations and tons of equipment up here ranging from the little compacts on up to largest tractors, Cat/Agco, Deere and CNH make as well as a lot of old Steigers, and Versatiles.
From all of my travels and visits to these farms I can honestly say Kubota is not represented very well. The large farms run CNH, Deere and Agco equipment, The Orchards and vineyards run CNH and Deere equipment with some Same tossed in. There are some Kubotas in use but maybe only 10%. The horse farms I visit and deal with run New Holland and John Deere and I visit a lot of them hauling hay. The hay operations tend to run mostly CNH and Deere with some Agco because of the fact they can buy the hay equipment from the same dealer.
I have nothing against Kubota but their main market in WNY is homeowner use, property maintance and light logging. I do know of one small beef farm that has two M series Kubotas but he is surrounded by farms that run all green tractors.
Kubota has to keep working at it to really be accepted in the ag world. Adding hay equipment would really boost their standing as then they can market their tractor/equipment better. Instead, you buy a tractor from a Kubota dealer then you have to go to another dealer to buy your hay equipment. It is easier to deal with just one dealer which is what hurts the pure Kubota dealers.
One of my favorite farms to visit runs all old Oliver tractors to take care of their vegetables. They keep restoring them (much like FWJ) and putting them in the field to earn their keep.
I can't speak for all of the US but from visiting farms in Western and Central NY, Western and Central PA as well as Eastern Ohio I have a good idea of what the farms in this area run as well as the reputations the tractor brands and models have earned.
Does anyone think Fiat would have been accepted so easily here if they didn't buy Ford and Case-IH? That is a point FWJ was trying to make. Kubota is working their way in the old way by building their line. Fiat tried bring tractors here before but it didn't work. Now they have a brand name and strong dealer network as well as a full lineup of equipment and are automatically the top tractor company in the world. Kubota needs to decide if they want to compete in the small ag world and if they do then they need to jump in. The best way I see them being able to do that would be to partner with Kuhn or Krone. Kuhn equipment would match up well to Kubota tractors already and is one of the top hay equipment companies in the world. Krone has been rumored to be for sale from time to time but every time Agco tries to buy them they turn them down