What happened to Ford

[JerryG]

They have made parts available for several makes of tractors that would have totally vanished if it had not been for AGCO. The companies have been gone for 20-30 years and you can now get new parts for their tractors. I don't think that the owners of these tractors are upset at AGCO.
<font color="blue">before they bought themselves back away from Agco </font>
What companies?

 

[ronjhall]

<font color="blue"> Well, Canada is in America, so I guess they are American made. </font> /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
I am sure some of our Canadian friends may not agree with that statement. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
They may be North American made. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Robert_in_NY]

The most simple answer is this, the farm economy was not doing too well in the late 80's early 90's so FoMoCo decided to part ways with its ag side. Fiat bought the Ford ag division and Ford would not allow them to keep the Ford name (which Fiat wanted). The deal was that Fiat could use the Ford name for a few years but each year the Ford name had to get smaller until the set day when the Ford name could no longer be used. This is why if you look at pics of the Genesis tractor the Ford name use to be big and the New Holland name little. Then the Ford name moved down to the front lower part of the hood and the New Holland name moved up and got bigger. It helped with the transition of Ford to New Holland.

Ford also sold off their truck division around this time also and if I recall Freightliner bought them and started Sterling.

Ford was doing as good as the other tractor companies but decided to concentrate on the auto side of their company which was in need of help.

 

[Gumby6]

TC30 4WD/HST/FEL for me was the logical choice. I have 7+ acres, wooded. Will be using this mainly for loader/grappler work. Size, capabilities, and price were right in my ballpark. Owners speak highly of their abilities on this site so I made the plunge. It arrives Friday!

Heres a link to a post with pics of my baby waiting for delivery.

TC30HST Arriving Dec 30!!!

 

[HRS]

Thanks for the info. I have to wonder, now that the compact craze has taken off, if any of the former decision makers at Ford think that they made a big error. I do, personally. As far as concentrating on their cars, man did they nearly totally botch that also. How could they take a success like the Taurus and so run in into the ground that its nameplate had to be abandoned. I even consider myself a Ford man. I've owned three of them now, but they really make me shake my head. I'm not impressed that their new family sedan is just a rebagged Mazda. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[HRS]

Congrats. I know you will have fun.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I don't think Ford regrets their decision. They had some great selling compacts in the 20 series before they sold out. What it came down to is that FoMoCo did not want to be so spread out anymore. It is a lot of work running so many large global companies. Even now though the Ag market isn't in the greatest shape.

As for the Taurus, I don't think they ran it into the ground as the last Taurus was still selling a ton of cars. The problem was that it was not holding up well against the imports. The Fusion is actually the Taurus replacement. The 500 was just a new breed of car Ford came out with. So far I know of a few people who have the 500 and they all love them. The only complaint is the lack of power which hopefully Ford will address. If they do I would not be surprised if the 500 out sells the Fusion even though they are different class machines.

I do miss Ford though in the Ag world. There was something nice about having that blue oval on your truck as well as your tractor. But on the bright side, there are still a lot of Ford tractors around to be bought used (and cheap compared to John Deere)

 

[HRS]

Well, I do agree that the 500 is a nice car. I looked at it and the Freestyle, the wagon version of it, and my wife really liked it. She will not go for the van, so it might become the next family hauler. The transmission they have in that car is really slick, no shifting.

As for the Fusion, I haven't seen it, but I doubt that the 500 will do better than it. Since the the Fusion is essentially the Mazda 6, it is going to be one nice car.

I do find it interesting how Ford is working hard to streamline their product lines. For example, the Focus, Mazad 3, and the small Volvo wagon, can't remember its name, are all the same platform.

Now they just need to work a tractor back into their product line. Anything! They could do like Henry Ford use to do and just offer one. Say around 30hp. I'd buy. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[spb1971]

The comments about AGCO are misleading. Many think of John Deere and AGCO as tractors only. AGCO's Hesston brand (Manufactured in Hesston, KS) manufactures more large hay equipment than Deere & NH Holland combined. This is in regards to large square balers and SP windrowers. Gleaner & Massey Ferguson combines are manufactured at this plant as well. There is also spray equipment such as Willmar, Spray-Coupe, AGChem and the Challenger track unit, which are manufactured in Jackson, MN. So to say that AGCO's North American headquarter is a corporate boardroom is not correct.

 

[HOGAN]

Jerry

The companies that come to mind first are Deutz,Same and Landini. Agco had interest in,control and marketing agreements on these three. Deutz and Same were not sold for ten years in the states. Landini came alone in the Agco mix through the partial interest Massey still held. These companies had almost no marketing in the states and in some other countries for a time. I am happy Massey has held it's nameplate and strength here and worldwide. As for parts you are right with some brands.

J.M.H.