O/T, But Where Did WFE Go?

There are a lot of MF, Challenger, and Fendt in the county next to mine. I work in that area daily and have been surprised over the last 10 years of how those brands have increased in market share. Deere still has a large presence there but I see it shrinking. Matter of fact, the local Agco dealer is building a large new dealership near the I-81 exchange in Harrisonburg. Scheduled to be completed by this fall.

Lonn wrote: IMO AGCO has the market share it does despite itself. How much more could they have had if they hadn't killed off the brand that outsold all their other brands in the USA? Wasn't the ratio something like 4 to 1 AGCO  Allis US sales over Massey and Challenger US sales combined? That kinda tells the US farmer that they didn't matter and then AGCO comes out with data pointing out that, yep, the US farmer really doesn't matter. How dumb was that! And then they out right lie that they would keep building AGCO Allis tractors right before my relative had just purchased a DT series tractor from them. And the lie that AGCO never stood for Allis Gleaner Company. I appreciate the things AGCO has done and I really appreciate my dealers but it could all have been much much better. My opinion probably will not change.

They are a good dealer, our new Tedder was purchased there and they gave dad a great deal.

But at least the FORD BLUE is still offered as a tractor color !!!

Get a Rope!

victoryallis wrote: bigal121892 wrote: FREEDGUY wrote: But at least the FORD BLUE is still offered as a tractor color !!! Both CaseIH, and New Holland embrace their heritage. Where as agco denies/distance themselves from their heritage, and seem down right embarrassed by it. Case did everything right when they bought IH, Deutz did everything wrong when they bought Allis and Agco followed their lead.

victoryallis wrote: bigal121892 wrote: FREEDGUY wrote: But at least the FORD BLUE is still offered as a tractor color !!! Both CaseIH, and New Holland embrace their heritage. Where as agco denies/distance themselves from their heritage, and seem down right embarrassed by it. Case did everything right when they bought IH, Deutz did everything wrong when they bought Allis and Agco followed their lead.

I think Deere is going to eventually regret forcing out their smaller dealers. Competition keeps prices down. In my area of Iowa, Van Wall is the dominant dealer and they're not afraid to charge for anything. 

Lots of interesting comments here.  My take is this..........It was actually Allis-Chalmers that began the ruin of Allis-Chalmers.  Deutz pretty well finished it off by dropping the color and destroying the tractor design tooling.  AGCO tried at first by bringing back the color and using similar styling.  They couldn't afford to buy the name but they wanted to.  AGCO's logo was as close as they could get to the A-C logo without getting sued.

I fully understand not running Agco equipment where there is no service.What I cannot understand is why an Allis - Chalmers enthusiast , on a AC site, would spew hate towards AGCO and  the old AC guys  that still work there.   Allis Chalmers killed Allis Chalmers Farm Equipment - period, case closed, 35 years ago. Agco picked up the mangled mess and at least provides a source for parts and service knowledge for AC Oliver White MM and a few other tractors and a bunch of other companies.   I spoke at a well known ag company who had lots of sharp young farm kids... all born after AC went out of business.  Things change, there were once AC and Ford dealers in every town in West Tennessee - now there are like 3 MF/Agco dealers and 2 New Holland dealers.. someone said at least the NH are same color as Ford - give me a break - they are FIATS... does the color of the skin make a man or the tractor?  I was totally upset when AGCO made the mistake of going to a 2 brand strategy but you get over it - same tractor under a different shade of paint - same people service, warranty and sell the same product.  If your wife or girl friend or boy friend changes styles of clothes and cologne or perfume do you ditch her/him and go find another so as to have two mother in laws ,,,, no wait I digress :-) :-)    BTW at the place I mentioned - only 1 person ever heard of AC , Ford or any other tractor I mentioned - Deere, MF CASE  were the only ones recognized - we live on a Continent where less than 1% of the population can buy a NEW over 100 HP Farm Tractor... but we do have a lot of enthusiast of the old stuff . Very few farm kids are out there - less than 2 % of us are farmers - who are going to work in Ag machinery  or support  businesses - the new hires come from non farm kids - and most could care less about tractor heritage -  it is a different day than it was on a sad Dec Day in 1985  .

tbran wrote: I fully understand not running Agco equipment where there is no service. What I cannot understand is why an Allis - Chalmers enthusiast , on a AC site, would spew hate towards AGCO and  the old AC guys  that still work there.   Allis Chalmers killed Allis Chalmers Farm Equipment - period, case closed, 35 years ago. Agco picked up the mangled mess and at least provides a source for parts and service knowledge for AC Oliver White MM and a few other tractors and a bunch of other companies.   I spoke at a well known ag company who had lots of sharp young farm kids... all born after AC went out of business.  Things change, there were once AC and Ford dealers in every town in West Tennessee - now there are like 3 MF/Agco dealers and 2 New Holland dealers.. someone said at least the NH are same color as Ford - give me a break - they are FIATS... does the color of the skin make a man or the tractor?  I was totally upset when AGCO made the mistake of going to a 2 brand strategy but you get over it - same tractor under a different shade of paint - same people service, warranty and sell the same product.  If your wife or girl friend or boy friend changes styles of clothes and cologne or perfume do you ditch her/him and go find another so as to have two mother in laws ,,,, no wait I digress :-) :-)    BTW at the place I mentioned - only 1 person ever heard of AC , Ford or any other tractor I mentioned - Deere, MF CASE  were the only ones recognized - we live on a Continent where less than 1% of the population can buy a NEW over 100 HP Farm Tractor... but we do have a lot of enthusiast of the old stuff . Very few farm kids are out there - less than 2 % of us are farmers - who are going to work in Ag machinery  or support  businesses - the new hires come from non farm kids - and most could care less about tractor heritage -  it is a different day than it was on a sad Dec Day in 1985  .

FREEDGUY wrote: So Brangor, seeing as you only have limited posts and no location in your "header", are you a dealer for Agco? Can't wrap my head around the fact that the Allis "orange" paint is /was a factor of Germany dumping the color due to "legalities" :-( JMO New Holland still has BLUE LOL!! Thanks for your input though, just still chaps my a$s the orange got dumped.

Not a dealer, just a dumb farmer from Illinois who likes A-C equipment but hasn’t owned any for several years. I’ve moved on to blue, red and green because of dealer support.

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Thanks for the reply. Just out of curiosity,does 1 color prevail over another one ?[/QUOTE]

Deere probably leads our area with Case IH a close 2nd. NH is 3rd. I prefer NH because they are cheaper and perform the same. Red and Green combines are about equal in number in our area. One or 2 New Hollands, one or 2 Gleaners and no Massey to speak of.

Also, it is true that 90% of the younger generation has never heard of / don't care about A-C in name, color or anything else. In 30 years give or take, this entire argument will be moot because most (not all) of us will either be dead, or soiling ourselves in a nursing home, or won't remember our own names.

When I purchased my grandfathers property I wanted a tractor. My dad died when I was twelve but I remember his first was an AC so I bought a little B and found this site. I was into Harleys and drag raced Mopars but this tractor stuff is what I am having fun with now. The cars and bikes are all gone.