|
| While I agree that it is pointless for AGCO to continue to make products that do not sell, they also have to take responsibility for their lack of support on their legacy products and brands. It is AGCO that has made the choice to introduce IDEAL under the Fendt brand only in North America, not the dealers, and not the farmers. That decision was not based on the fact that AGCO was selling more Fendt combines than Massey, because Fendt wasn't selling ANY combines.
The Challenger brand is as good as dead too. Just like the announcement of the IDEAL being a Fendt and not a Massey effectively killed whatever residual brand equity was left in the Massey brand, the announcement of the new tracked tractors being Fendts and not Challengers has killed whatever brand equity remained in Challenger. How long do you think White planters will be around, with the new Momentum being branded as a Fendt only?
Look in the new AGCO virtual show room. There are no combines in the Massey area, and the only products in the Challenger area are RoGators and TerraGators. That tells you everything you need to know about where AGCO is going in North America.
AGCO has always had a massive marketing problem in North America. And killing off your legacy brands while throwing all of your resources behind a brand that is new to this market does nothing to make your existing customer base feel like investing in your products. Every time that AGCO has killed off one of it's brands in North America, their market share goes in the wrong direction. AGCO's current local market share is a small fraction of what it was only a few decades ago.
What happens if/when AGCO's Fendt gambit fails? How long before the last of the Massey dealers are only selling Versatile and Kubota? How long before the last of the Challenger/Fendt dealers are only selling Claas?
I'm not trolling here, I'm genuinely sad. Our farm had been running Massey equipment for three generations. But as we grew and our needs changed, this became more and more difficult. Our local MF dealer was always top notch, but when they couldn't sell us any articulated tractors, because some marketing genius at AGCO decided that only Challenger should have articulated tractors, we bought Versatiles. When it was time to upgrade our last Massey combine, with AGCO pulling the plug on Massey combines, we felt like the only viable option in our area was Deere. So now the only AGCO products left on our farm are few older yard/auger tractors. | |
|
MF combines
