Which brand would you sell?

virgil · Feb 2, 2008

We DID do the lawn and garden stuff. It was good money.
We DID do the "big yellow iron" stuff before that... it was good money.

We now have the Kioti (11 years) and the Branson line of tractors (7 years)
we do NOT do the easy money lawn and garden any more.

As a dealer, we have "Issues" with ONE of my tractor lines.... it is a GOOD tractor... I bought one for myself. I would buy another one for myself.

M.F. came avalable to us a little while back. We checked in to it. A good, reconized product with a decient margin....BUT, There were "issues" with M.F. / AGCO that we were not going to be able to live with. These "issues" were not their falt, nor were they our falt... its buisness.

The lawn and garden stuff was easy money compared to the highly competative, down right cut-throat tractor market for this area.

Farmwithjunk · Feb 2, 2008

Wayne County Hose said:
You may be 100% correct. I only know what the dealer told me. But, they are by far the largest dealer around. I think I read that MF is the largest seller worldwide, correct me if I'm wrong.

Every brand has their own self-serving spin on the sales numbers. Massey Ferguson, by some accounts, including AGCO's, claims to sell more FARM TRACTORS worldwide than any other brand. How that takes in to account numbers of compacts, construction/industrial, and implements as well, is anyones guess. Deere claims the lead in farm equipment sales, tractors, combines, hay equipment, ect. I don't doubt that they do lead that combination.

I'm doing good to get a grip on what's going on in my own back yard....

I've heard rumblings that Massey Ferguson/AGCO is going to make a stronger effort at gaining market share in the US in the coming year. I just recently bought a pair of MF583's for my mowing business. After comparing their offerings along with the factory backed dealer incentives MF had to offer, they're very competitive with any brands, at least in terms of the size tractor I was shopping for.

In an economy like we're suffering through right now, ALL the majors will be digging for sales. I found it to be a great time to be a buyer.

dynasim · Feb 2, 2008

My lesson from this thread would be to pick a brand where the next closest dealer is inadequate, a little farther away than convenient, and sells a good product.

You'll note that the ones who say a brand is popular in their area also say that the dealer for that brand is excellent, and the other dealers not so excellent.

A choice between a big name(more expensive, more corporate hassle) and a little name(less $, less/future uncertain support) is a strategic decision, probably not all that relevant to "my favorite" sort of advice. Note the Farmtrac issue.

Chris

ChuckinNH · Feb 2, 2008

Interesting question. I've done a lot of tractor shopping in the past year, but don't know much about it from a dealer's perspective. Demographics is very important, and you need to look closely at your area for that. What do the big three dealers sell the most of in your area. If they are selling mostly smaller cuts, and scuts that tells you something as does the majority of sales in 50hp plus sales. In an area with farming history, and many small farms I would think that Massey would do well. The name recognition alone is a good thing. In this area my engineering type friends lean towards Mahindra, and that makes sense from an analitical point. I heard recently that there have bene a lot of personell changes, resignations, etc. in the upper levels of the Branson organization, but can't verify that. The two small Kioti dealers in my area seem to be doing well, but haven't grown much in the 5+ years they have been active. In this area, Kubota's are similar in price, and very well represented, so I'm sure that impacts the Kioti showing. The local long time Massey dealer took on Mahindra a few years ago, and they seem to be moving about as fast as the Masseys. When inventory goes down at that place, it is usually the larger tractors that are left. Massey has some gaps in the small cut line, and I think that hurts them in this area. I talked to a Kioti dealer recently, and he said that Kioti had been good about supporting him with warranty issues, and borderline issues as long as he took the initiative. That would seem important to me. He said parts flow, now that they are on a computerized system has been quite good. Mahindra also seems to be good to dealers in these areas. A well known, and respected NH dealer took on Branson, and then dropped them for TYM........ don't know the signifigance of that. FWJ makes some very good points.
Good luck with your choice!!

MikePA · Feb 3, 2008

ihcubs said:
We are looking for a tractor brand to sell and was wondering what brand you would take on in your dealership. The brands that are available in our area is: Kioti, Massey Ferguson, Branson, and Mihandra. Please give us your opinions. Dealers are welcome to let us know what experiences that they have had with parts and service from these companies. Thanks in advance.

Perhaps you've already done this. Before I determined what would sell well, I'd determine what kind of relationship I'd have with each of these manufacturers. Do you have to take so many units? How do you pay for them? What parts and service capability do you have to have? How will they support you?

Once I ranked this information, then I'd rank what might sell in my area.

Builder · Feb 3, 2008

I'd go with either MF, Mahindra or Kioti that has the farthest away competition. They are all established brands. Obviously, if you have an MF dealer 10 miles away and you open another MF dealership, don't you think you 2 dealers will just beat each other's up in price competition? Neither will make money.

IOW, if MF is 100mi, Kioti is 50 mi, and Mahindra is 20 miles, then consider opening an MF dealership.

DavesTractor · Feb 4, 2008

ihcubs said:
BTW: We are located in NC and the JD, NH, and kubota lines are taken. We sell a lot of lawn and garden equipment, but we don't sell any tractors. Kinda hestitate to get in the tractor business, but considering it. Thanks so far for all of the responses.

If you are doing lawn and garden now, the obvious next step is compact tractors, so pick a line that is strong in the smaller HP ranges. Make sure they are quality, because just selling price is a poor way to do business. Mahindra is my first choice in this size range. They have 10 different models between 18-32 HP, including gear, hst and shuttle. They are built in Japan by Mitsubishi and are as good of a tractor as any built anywhere. Plus you have a huge company that owns them. Mahindra worldwide is huge, #3 in sales worldwide (disclaimer...depends on how you count). Kioti is very well respected also and has good name recognition in many areas and I won't argue against MF either, they have certainly been around for a while. I am a Mahindra dealer, so I am a little biased, but it has sure worked well for us.

MessickFarmEqu · Feb 5, 2008

I'm a dealer. Of all those, I'd do Massy for obvious reasons. Another factor to consider is that if our economey does slide into a recession, some of those smaller companies will probably fold. The compact tractor market has seen 7-8 years of constant growth and there are probably more players right now than what the market can support if sales begin to contract. I'd also consider the Cub Cadet / Yanmar co-op. They would be a nice compliment to a lawn equipment store and be a name your customers would trust. There are alot of cut rate equipment dealers in the mid-south. Its probably going to be hard for you to compete on price with any of those lines. You'll want to focus on service and your existing customers.

Mahindra worldwide is huge, #3 in sales worldwide (disclaimer...depends on how you count)

Dave... how do you count? Seriously... Mahindra is not even on the radar for big equipment companies. Agco farts Mahindra's yearly volume.

DavesTractor · Feb 5, 2008

MessickFarmEqu said:
Dave... how do you count? Seriously... Mahindra is not even on the radar for big equipment companies. Agco farts Mahindra's yearly volume.

Neil, countng worldwide sales of tractors. Individual tractor brands, not groups. Mahindra did 113,000 tractors in 2007 (from memory I don't have my notes in front of me). John Deere and New Holland sold more worldwide, by a small margin, but Mahindra outsold the other brands...including Kubota. Mahindra is fairly new to the USA, but committed to the market. They are a global giant, and if you want to be global, you have to have a strong presense in the USA. You will see Mahindra pickups and SUVs in the USA within a year or so.

Like I said, it matters how you count and what you count, and I acknowledged that. Mahindra doesn't sell combines, nor does it sell riding lawn mowers or RTV's or chainsaws, so we count tractors.

So you may joke and fart, your words, but Mahindra is slowly taking market share in the USA as well.

Your idea of Cub/Yanmar for the poster is a good one. Cub Cadet is well recognized in the lawn business and it may be a good fit.