Tractor Brands Market Share

[jeff9366]

It's interesting to stop and think about what you see. It's very different in different areas. I just returned from a 6000 plus mile trip to the West coast and back, ( starting from Michigan ) mostly off the Interstate. I was surprised to see only a few Kubota dealerships while I saw dozens of JD and a sizable number of Case IH. This was likely a result of going through areas where "tractors" start at well into 3 digit horsepower.

200+ horsepower tractors generate a lot of revenue but unit volume is low relative to compact tractors, so tractor market share is only moderately impacted, and compact tractor market share is not impacted at all.


Writing only as an observer, not an industry insider, LS, Kioti and Branson are established in California, a huge consumer market with a major port of entry in Long Beach, and in the fast population growth states along the Gulf Coast. Deere, with its great history in Iowa and diverse Big Ag product line dominates the prairie states. I rarely see Kubota, LS, Kioti or Branson tractors in Iowa or Nebraska, for example.

For Kubota and Deere having a comprehensive offering of "matched" tractor implements and attachments increases revenue stream per tractor sold for years. Not forfeiting the established customer who now wants a 100-horsepower tractor is another advantage.

LS, Kioti and Branson combined PERHAPS enjoy 10% of the compact tractor market, including private labels. (I speculate TYM private label tractor units exceed sales of TYM branded tractors.)

Most or all of the Korean tractor brands have AROUND 1% compact tractor market share in the USA under their primary trademark. I am skeptical even the most successful Korean tractor brand exceeds 2% market share under it's primary trademark. LS, Kioti and Branson are handicapped by only having compact tractors in the USA product line. It takes a talented capitalist to keep the doors open at a regional brand selling only compact tractors during a severe recession like 2008-2009. You must critically assess dealer stability while shopping minor brands.




I have a Branson dealer about 30 miles distant (Lee's Custom Services, Branford, Florida) that has kept the doors open ~20 years and has been well reviewed on T-B-N.
Were I in the market for a new tractor and price was the primary consideration and if the new tractor were to be heavier than a subcompact, I would consider a Branson from Lee's Services. (Lee's sells only Branson)

In the <25-horsepower category the OP is researching for five (5) acres, the commendable weight of >35 horsepower Bransons is immaterial. There is only so much tractor and implement 25-horsepower can move.

 

[Paystar]

Kubota makes a good tractor but not what we are trying to understand. What we would like to know is market share. Has nothing to do with reliability.

Like has been posted before.....according to my John Deere and Kubota dealer, Kubota has the sales lead in under 80 h.p. tractors and JD leads over 80 h.p.

Being an old Massey Ferguson fan, I found it interesting to see Massey sales rated so high up in so many regions of the world, yet I never see any in farm fields in real life?

 

[dodge man]

Jeff, I generally agree with the numbers you post, they match my personal observations. I think the problem is people want a link to backup your numbers. I’m not sure all the tractor sales can be broken down to a single link.

 

[jeff9366]

Commendably, K5lwq committed to independent research. I am interested in reviewing the data K5lwq turns up, and his interpretation of the gross data. It will be difficult to separate compact tractor units from other tractor segments and equipment units.

PS: I only generally agree with my own information.

​

 

[k0ua]

K5LWK, when you finish with this analysis, your next task is to figure out Kenwood, Yaesu, and Icom. Enquiring minds want to know.

73... James K0UA

 

[PuffyC]

There's a million ways you can define the question: Best selling in the US? Best selling in the world? Best selling subcompact? It's also hard because some companies produce multiple brands, so do you want the best selling brand or the company that sells the most tractors? Conceptually those are 2 different things (see Ford vs GM trucks for example).

I did find this though, and assuming it's accurate it says Deere is #1 in the world: Tractors Market | 2021 - 26 | Industry Share, Size, Growth - Mordor Intelligence. The report may break it down further but I didn't read it. There's also this for the UK: John Deere retains top slot in tractor sales figures - Farmers Weekly. With that said, I'd bet Mahindra is likely #1 overall in the world for total company sales (not brand sales).

I've gone down this rabbit hole before and IMO you see a lot of representation from Kubota in places like this forum where there's a lot of interest in the subcompact and compact market, but for overall market share they're way down the list. Deere and M&M dominate, most likely because the fastest growing region is APAC which is the heart of M&M country.

 

[s219]

I don't think it will be possible to come up with useful market share numbers (using unit sales) since the companies keep their internal numbers private unless they have some marketing reason to brag, i.e., when Kubota was able to claim #1 just because of a mathematical conclusion.

I would caution against using revenue to calculate market share. For example, in the Smartphone market Apple and Samsung have at times combined for well over 100% market share by revenue because many other companies operate at a loss despite shipping large unit volumes. The revenue information has its place but it is not a good indicator of unit sales at all.

I encourage the OP to ask Neil Messick for some perspective. He has been helpful explaining the data in the past, including how conclusions can be made and how so much is unknown. His dealership sells a couple different tractor brands so he will have broader knowledge than most folks.

 

[dodge man]

What is M&M tractors? Minneapolis Moline? I think they are out of business.

 

[artf]

Ask your Dealer for the data his OEM provides him to determine Market Share.

Market Share is divided into Segments. Segments are by machine size which corresponds to market segment.

An example is Compact Construction Equipment, Backhoe's and smaller. There are ~14 companies in this segment selling in the US.

The number of units by Brand advertised in the used market is not an indicator of Machine Population in a selected area, but may reflect Dealer density in the area or may indicate a suboptimal product (models) customers don't want to retain long-term.

Although I'm biased, try seeking a low hour Kubota in the 34-40 HP range and see how far you have to travel or what the value retention is used. Try finding a low mile Chevy or Ford pickup close by that's not an overpriced trade on a dealer lot?

 

[MHarryE]

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Here is the monthly summary from AEM - Agricultural Equipment Manufacturers. Prior to retirement, I worked for 2 of the major ag equipment companies. We reported our monthly sales but were given only the total, not breakdown by manufacturer. So we knew our sales and total sales and from that we could determine our market share. However, its not a top secret type organization. For example when I worked for Case-IH in East Moline, IL, many of the employees, including managers, were married to John Deere employees (at that time plants across the street from each other) so the numbers of CaseIH and Deere combine sales were well known amongst us managers. I left Gleaner to work for CaseIH along with my boss who became Director of Engineering and our Marketing Manager. So from past ties, we knew monthly sales for those 3 to the exact number turned into AEM. But - the emails coming past me each month had the numbers for every sale in North America so our corporate marketing intelligence was able to pull the numbers together. Its not too hard to follow that all companies today have similar corporate intelligence as its very important to know where you stand and where to concentrate your development and marketing money. My field was combines - we had very little interaction with the tractor group but I expect they put even more effort into marketing espionage than we did at combines. More total sales $$$ involved.