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| I may be off a little on my time frame, but this is about how it went I am told. AGCO bought Fendt in 1997 or 98. The main reason was the CVT transmission that Fendt pioneered. I drove a big Fendt tractor in Kansas City in the summer of 1998 with the CVT transmission and it was totally cool !! The rest of the tractor wasn't really suited for North America, as it wouldn't go down to 30 inch rows because the cab was too wide at the bottom. AGCO had difficulty getting its dealer organization to jump on board. They didn't want every dealer to start handling the Fendt line, but wanted some exclusivity to those dealers who did want to sign up for Fendt. I'm sure the tractor was eventually modernized to meet North American farmers wants and needs, but it just wasn't yet catching on like they had hoped. In 2002 or 2003 there was a pretty high level meeting between AGCO and Caterpillar. AGCO was wanting to try and market their new top-of-the-line Fendt CVT transmission tractor thru Caterpillar dealers. The logic was Cat had the famous Challenger tracked tractor in 7 sizes, and the industries largest Claas "Lexion" combine, but did not have a large rubber tired FWA tractor for those Cat customers who still desired that configuration. AGCO wanted to make a deal to market the Fendt alongside the Challenger track tractor thru Cat dealers. AGCO didn't know it, but at that time Cat and Claas were considering a divorce, as Cat was considering exiting the farm equipment business entirely. So, in the end, Caterpillar sold the Challenger track tractor to AGCO. I always thought they bought the "Challenger" name too, but maybe that wasn't the case or there was a time limit on the use of that name. Anyway, AGCO has NEVER had anything to do with Claas, only Challenger with Cats blessing. | |
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AGCO/ CLAAS
