Agco Rant

What I am about to complain about has been posted here before in various posts but I though I would consolidate it. Traveled to the NC Farm show on Friday and checked everything out and came back home with several complaints about Agco First I was not impressed with the Made in china tag on the back of those new Massey Ferguson’s. That explains why my dealer has quit stocking Massey’s and has dedicated the whole yard to everything Kubota is making now which is impressive. Second I wasn’t impressed with the Massey emblem on the Hesston balers. Why drop the name and change it to Massey and then put the big bold decal on it proclaiming it was made in Hesston Kansas? Doesn’t excuse you from the China deal in my eyes. And if you wanted to kill a brand name why on earth didn’t you kill the Challenger name and the yellow paint and absorb those into the Massey fold instead of carrying on with that name. And why couldn’t the Allis name be reincarnated? The star of the show for the past two years has been Bobby Vauses 4W-305 and you can watch people walk by and admire it and most of them have on green hats. Kudos to Case/IH for their display at the show they seem to be doing good I just wished I had a dealer closer to me and kinda chuckled when I walked by their small tractor and it said Farmall. They get it and they understand it I just wished Agco did.

My big disappointment was Agco was suppose to have their new combine there, it wasn’t. Agco had a poor showing in my opinion. Yeah, also impressed with the Farmall decal. At least they are proud of their heritage.

I don’t know about where your at, but there are more Challengers sold than Massey’s where I’m at. I have to say though I am really disappointed with Agco on the new tracked machines with the cvt. Not only has the price went up over 1/3, the horsepower isn’t there and the typical Agco electronics are taking over them. We looked at leasing a new Massey and brand new setting on the lot it already had 2 fault codes.

How do you think the JI Case guys feel about the whole CNH, CASEIH thing? They got the shaft like agco gave us A-C guys. Promoting the red tractors and Farmall? That's a slap in their face.

most who work for agco don't know what it stands for .have ask them over the last few years at sunbelt ag expo most don't have a clue.

orange-is-power wrote: How do you think the JI Case guys feel about the whole CNH, CASEIH thing? They got the shaft like agco gave us A-C guys. Promoting the red tractors and Farmall? That's a slap in their face.

Case didn’t bring as much to the plate. Tenneco bought them and took them along for the ride. Without Tenneco Case would have been another Oliver or Moline just a name of the past.

When none of the management promotes the full history of AGCO to the employees, none are going to know or even care. Unfortunately, most that promoted the heritage of AGCO have retired or passed on. All thats left is the farmers, former employees, and dealers to tell about the history and heritage of AGCO. These are the people that it takes to get the management to change. AGCO goes with the global sales producs, what might globally sell is different in the US market. The US is different in what customers look for. Companies make data driven decisions, thats why they have done what they have done. Except as I mentioned the US is different and they have over looked and not collected the actual data of what is important to their customers in the US. Canada and Australia should be included too since AC was big in some of thier areas too. I personally think AGCO makes a decent product, its their tactics of marketing in the US is why the dont succeed as well here. There is no good explanation why they cant paint a tractor orange, silver, yellow, or green and apply the respective brand name for each on them. When a customer spends $250,000 for a tractor they should be able to buy the color and brand they want, especially when the company owns all the trade marks but AC's in which they've had numerous opportunities to buy. If everyone would send a letter to one of the head management in AGCO saying a little about themselves and what brand product that they prefer to own might make them start to think on brand choices farmers would buy in the US. We know color and brand matters, AGCOs management doesn't. If anyone watches Corn Warrior's, David Hula promotes John Deere big time. Why dont we, as Allis, Minneapolis Moline, White and Oliver guys do the same? It take us to promote that to the management of AGCO. AGCO might change if 25,000 would customers send in letters, theres at least that many in the US.

I don't like the fact the agco dropped the orange paint, but I can understand it, it was a business decision. What I really didn't like, was the fact that we were lied to about it. agco is telling us on one hand that they are committed to the orange paint, all the while making plans to drop it. agco management, and reps, can't seem to get it through there thick heads, that because of this I can't, and don't trust them. It makes it very difficult to do business with a company that you can't trust, because they are know liars. Another problem, is the location of Challenger dealers. I'm 75 miles to the closest Challenger dealer, while there are two Massey dealers within 35 miles, (and four John Deere dealers within 45 miles). While I can buy a 36 row planter from the Massey dealer, I can not buy a tractor to pull it, much less one that will stay ahead of it, or a self-propelled spray for that matter. 

Fendt ideal combine at the iowa power farming show last week.

Gotta chime in on this one. I was raised on AC in west central Il., and I would say they were #1 here at that time. I can think of at least 5 dealerships in a 35 mile radius. All gone but one Agco. I have worked under Tennaco Case, CIH, CNH, names all at the same plant for almost 40yrs. Totally owned now by Fiat. Those names are just decals on a hood or loader arm and nothing more. JI Case and I-H are long gone. Our products both Ag and light CE are mostly foreign component. Was hoping that Agco would buy us and consolidate everything under the Allis brand but that seems less likely all the time. At least Agco and Deere are U.S. owned cause CNH /CIH are not.

Ky.Allis wrote: It kinda gets under my skin when people start bragging how great Kubota has become. They still and probably never will offer tractors and IMPLEMENTS for REAL farmers. Yea they now offer hay tools only after buying out a never popular brand. Their lightweight tractors are for the "Subaru" folks who fall for their "save the planet" advertising. So go buy a Kubota to farm with and then go purchase implements to pull behind them from JD,CaseIh or AGCO who offer every tractor and implement you could possibly need from planting to harvest.

Allis chalmers never had much market around here. The last AGCO dealer here was bought out by Butler a few years ago. Either red or green is all you see. Farm I harvested beets at bought a new tractor every other year for the ten years I worked there. All were Red, If you ever get a chance drive a quad track they are so good the even green tractor guys are buying them. Almost every farm around here has at least one quad track.

There was at least a dozen AC dealerships around here. The 1980's wiped out most of them.   The last one closed last year. Most of the farmers that owned AC have retired/ passed away. The young guys/sons are all running Deere. Only have a Deere dealership in town now. Used to be Case, IHC, AC, Deere, in town. Now nearest Agco must be at least 70 miles away. IHC is 30 miles both East and West. Deere is in town and 25 miles East and South. We lost both mechanics last year that knew AC's through and through.

Well said Tbran !  Allis-Chalmers is gone.  Let it rest in peace.