Who was the biggest tractor manufacturer?
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Topic: Who was the biggest tractor manufacturer?
Posted By: clovis
Subject: Who was the biggest tractor manufacturer?
Date Posted: 10 Sep 2010 at 9:43pm
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I'm curious to learn which of the tractor companies were the largest over the years. From what I've read, International was the largest, right? Who was historically #2 and #3 in terms of production? Where did AC fall into the game, as far as production numbers are concerned? Why was International the largest? Was it because they had the largest dealer network? No need to throw stones at me....I'm just trying to learn. Even if Allis wasn't the largest, we certainly knew they are the best! |
Replies:
Posted By: DREAM
Date Posted: 10 Sep 2010 at 10:11pm
| Remember, bigger isn't always better. Rolls-Royce doesn't make nearly as many cars a year as Chevy. I would be interested to see who was the biggest too. I wonder if we counted the ones in other parts of the world, not just in this country, who would it be? |
Posted By: GBACBFan
Date Posted: 10 Sep 2010 at 11:31pm
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I sure hope it's not MF, or the fight will begin! LOL ------------- "The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you can never know if they are genuine." - Mark Twain |
Posted By: Spud
Date Posted: 11 Sep 2010 at 1:14am
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Yes, MF is the biggest worldwide for an individual brand. They used to be the big combine manufacturer in North America at one point too. IH used to be the biggest in North America but Deere passed them in the 60's. The biggest mainline manufacturer now is CNH with the two brands combined. I am sure there is a manufacturer out there in India or China that makes a huge volume of smaller tractors now though. Currently, India is the biggest tractor market in the world. |
Posted By: Coke-in-MN
Date Posted: 11 Sep 2010 at 8:18am
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Fiat also controls a large portion of the European market. With their New Holland brand here in the US and ownership in much of the market as part owner in many companies they have to rank up near the top also world wide now. ------------- Faith isn't a jump in the dark. It is a walk in the light. Faith is not guessing; it is knowing something. "Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful." |
Posted By: MBolton
Date Posted: 11 Sep 2010 at 8:41am
| Mahindra and Mahindra is the big manufacturer in India and also markets here as well as worldwide. |
Posted By: 620Doc
Date Posted: 11 Sep 2010 at 9:00am
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Coke, it is my understanding that Fiat has spun off CNH which is now an independent entity. ------------- Every day is a holiday. Every meal is a banquet. |
Posted By: ac_bowsers
Date Posted: 11 Sep 2010 at 9:22am
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IF you consider A-C as the diversified giant and not just a tractor maker, I do believe at one point in time in their prime they were the largest manufacturing company in the world.
------------- Pine Stock Farm "Home of the ALLIS" 35-WC-36-U-37-UC-47-C-49-G-57-D17-58-D17puller-63-D21-71-210puller-79-7045-83-8070-AA9675-BigTen-B10-310-1300fieldcult-snapcoupler imp.-longhopper blower,signs,etc. |
Posted By: Coke-in-MN
Date Posted: 11 Sep 2010 at 9:26am
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Fiat I believe still owns Case construction equipment, also the Fiat Alis (New Holland) construction, as well as old Ford lines. also several joint ventures in Excavators with Korean partners. They are a partner in many ventures (Chrysler) as the money behind the name
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNH_%28company - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNH_(company )
CNH Global N.V. ( /wiki/New_York_Stock_Exchange - NYSE : http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/quickquote.html?ticker=cnh - CNH ) is a global, full line company operating in both the agricultural and construction equipment industries. CNH's scope includes integrated engineering, manufacturing, marketing and distribution of equipment on five continents. CNH's operations are organized into three business segments: agricultural equipment, construction equipment and financial services.
As of December 31, 2009, CNH manufactures its products in 38 facilities throughout the world and distributes its products in approximately 170 countries through approximately 11,600 full line /wiki/Dealer - dealers and distributors. CNH Global N.V. is incorporated in and under the laws of /wiki/The_Netherlands - The Netherlands . The company was created on November 12, 1999 though the merger of /wiki/New_Holland_Agriculture - New Holland N.V. and /wiki/Case_Corporation - Case Corporation . CNH Global N.V. stock is listed on the /wiki/New_York - New York /wiki/Stock_Exchange - Stock Exchange (NYSE:CNH). The company presents its financial results on a quarterly basis under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ( /wiki/GAAP - GAAP ). CNH is majority-owned by /wiki/Fiat - Fiat S.p.A., whose stock is listed on the Milan Stock Exchange (FIA.MI). As of December 31, 2009, Fiat S.p.A. and its subsidiaries owned 89% of CNH's outstanding common shares. #cite_note-Annual_Report_2009_p.20_and_28-2 - [3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_IH - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_IHCase IH is an /wiki/USA - American mechanical company, one of the world’s largest brands of /wiki/Agricultural_equipment - agricultural equipment . With headquarters in /wiki/Racine,_Wisconsin - Racine, Wisconsin , it has a network of more than 4,000 dealers and distributors that operates in more than 160 countries. Case IH is owned by /wiki/CNH_Global - CNH Global which in turn is financially controlled by the /wiki/Italy - Italian /wiki/Fiat_Group - Fiat Group . Case IH offers agricultural equipment, financial services, as well as parts and service support for farmers and commercial operators through a network of dealers and distributors. Productivity enhancing products include tractors; combines and harvesters; hay and forage equipment; tillage tools; planting and seeding systems; sprayers and applicators; and site-specific farming tools. Case IH has won many AE50 awards from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, /wiki/ASABE - ASABE , for their products. Some of Case IH’s most famous equipment models include Axial-Flow combines, /w/index.php?title=Magnum_Series&action=edit&redlink=1 - Magnum tractors , /wiki/Steiger_Tractor - Steiger and /wiki/Farmall - Farmall . ------------- Faith isn't a jump in the dark. It is a walk in the light. Faith is not guessing; it is knowing something. "Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful." |
Posted By: CTuckerNWIL
Date Posted: 11 Sep 2010 at 10:03am
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It would depend on time periods in history as to who was the largest tractor producer. Ford probably still holds number records for production of the Fordson tractors with numbers somewhere near 750,000.
------------- http://www.ae-ta.com" rel="nofollow - http://www.ae-ta.com Lena 1935 WC12xxx, Willie 1951 CA6xx Dad bought new, 1954WD45 PS, 1960 D17 NF |
Posted By: wkpoor
Date Posted: 11 Sep 2010 at 12:02pm
So where are all those Fordson's now? |
CTuckerNWIL wrote:Posted By: CTuckerNWIL
Date Posted: 11 Sep 2010 at 1:48pm
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I would bet 2/3 of them went to the scrap drives in WWII. I don't know were else they would be. ------------- http://www.ae-ta.com" rel="nofollow - http://www.ae-ta.com Lena 1935 WC12xxx, Willie 1951 CA6xx Dad bought new, 1954WD45 PS, 1960 D17 NF |
Posted By: Gerald J.
Date Posted: 11 Sep 2010 at 2:51pm
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Many Fordsons were scrapped before WW2 so probably ended up in Japanese armament. They had a tendency to climb the ring gear, e.g. bring up the front end and crush the driver as they flipped over. There were aftermarket fenders supposed to stop that but I don't see how some time could lift the wheels enough to stop the flip. The Fordson had one major claim to fame and that was price. It undersold the entire tractor industry sometimes by a factor of ten. It was better than a team, sometimes. Gerald J. |
Posted By: Pat the Plumber CIL
Date Posted: 11 Sep 2010 at 7:35pm
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Fordsons and john deere D's were obsolete by the 2nd world war.2 of the most produced tractors ever and most were melted down and made into Battle ships and Air Craft Carriers ------------- You only need to know 3 things to be a plumber;Crap rolls down hill,Hot is on the left and Don't bite your fingernails 1964 D-17 SIV 3 Pt.WF,1964 D-15 Ser II 3pt.WF ,1960 D-17 SI NF,1956 WD 45 WF. |
Posted By: Lonn
Date Posted: 11 Sep 2010 at 8:45pm
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Allis had the number 1 spot for production of one model over any other model a few times in history. The years 1951 and 1954 with the WD and WD45 and I think the B and WC were number 1 a time or two. ------------- -- --- .... .- -- -- .- -.. / .-- .- ... / .- / -- ..- .-. -.. . .-. .. -. --. / -.-. .... .. .-.. -.. / .-. .- .--. .. ... - Wink I am a Russian Bot |
Posted By: GBACBFan
Date Posted: 11 Sep 2010 at 10:37pm
Charlie and Pat know where the Fordsons went!
 Circa early 1940's ------------- "The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you can never know if they are genuine." - Mark Twain |
Posted By: clovis
Date Posted: 14 Sep 2010 at 1:15am
| Anyone else have thoughts or comments about which manufacturer was the largest, particularly during the 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's? |
Posted By: TexasAllis
Date Posted: 14 Sep 2010 at 7:10am
I read an article a while back where Mahindra goal is the number one seller of tractors world wide.
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Posted By: DouginIL
Date Posted: 14 Sep 2010 at 7:18am
| From the book "The Agricultural Tractor" by R. B. Gray. Number 1 was International Harvester Number 2: John Deere Number 3: J. I. Case, Number 4: Massey Harris, Number 5: Oliver, Number 6: Minneapolis Moline, Number 7: Allis Chalmers, Number 8: Cleveland Tractor Co., Number 9: Caterpillar Tractor Co. These 9 companies produced 90% of all the tractors built. This was in the mid 1930's. |
Posted By: Lonn
Date Posted: 14 Sep 2010 at 7:30am
Allis rose quite a bit after the the mid 1930's from those humble numbers to pass up the likes of Case and Oliver and others. At least that what I believe I remember. ------------- -- --- .... .- -- -- .- -.. / .-- .- ... / .- / -- ..- .-. -.. . .-. .. -. --. / -.-. .... .. .-.. -.. / .-. .- .--. .. ... - Wink I am a Russian Bot |
Posted By: CJohnS MI
Date Posted: 14 Sep 2010 at 9:08am
Never seen where a manufacturer's goal was to be number 2. |
Posted By: M Diesel
Date Posted: 14 Sep 2010 at 5:51pm
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Just a note for clovis. Size is a complicated thing with companies that large. At one time IH had it's own iron ore ships on the Great Lakes. Big ones. Their early start in threshing equipment gave them substantial distribution, and as time went by in the early days of gas tractors they packaged those tractors with implements, primarily plows. They were in a good position to do that and it worked well for them. Then they added/expanded many other product lines and so were able to take advantage of engineering in ways smaller companies could not. Just a guess on my part, but I suspect IH sold more pickup trucks than most others sold tractors. (IH sold trucks (Autowagon) starting just a short while after 1900.) All of these entities were intertwined at some point, making it difficult to completely distinguish one part of the company from another when the ore all comes from the same place. Just my 2 bits.
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Posted By: clovis
Date Posted: 14 Sep 2010 at 7:46pm
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Good point. Both International and Allis were involved in a wide array of industries. I hadn't considered that aspect when I posted the question originally. It really is quite amazing what Allis was involved with. I was just curious to know who made the most tractors over the years. Allis had to have been way up there in the rankings of the number of tractors produced. |
Posted By: M Diesel
Date Posted: 15 Sep 2010 at 8:06pm
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Well, they must have. Them little buggers is everywhere. :lol: One of the things all the early manufacturers overlooked was how much demand there was for small machines. It is interesting to note that IH and Allis both had their big hits with small row crops of similar shape, while in a similar vein Ford and JD were both originally prolific in the wide front axles. IH and AC also shared similar engine design philosophy, although it hurt both when they attempted large construction machines. Has anybody ever tallied up production by year? (Surely it has been done but I haven't seen it.) I only know that ~300,000 Famall Ms were made and 200,000 must still exist based on the number of dumb alternator questions over on Yesterdays Tractors. |
Posted By: Lonn
Date Posted: 15 Sep 2010 at 8:14pm
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I did once but I'm not sure where I put the info right now. I did Case SC, Oliver 77 and Super 77, AC WD and 45, JD A and 60, MH 30. Deere wasn't easy, lots of breaks and different numbers for each variation. The Deere A doesn't come to close to the claimed exactly 300,000. The Deere 60 was easier as the records were more uniform and that was a far cry from the 45 production figures. Something like 60,000 if I remember right. ------------- -- --- .... .- -- -- .- -.. / .-- .- ... / .- / -- ..- .-. -.. . .-. .. -. --. / -.-. .... .. .-.. -.. / .-. .- .--. .. ... - Wink I am a Russian Bot |
Posted By: M Diesel
Date Posted: 16 Sep 2010 at 8:26pm
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Cool stuff. Actually, that doesn't really surprise me somehow. I have been told by more than one old timer that serial numbers were often "fudged" upward to shore up marketing and advertising needs. Not to mention the common practice of rounding up serial numbers when an update is implemented. I've actually done that one myself. Any info ya got tallied up would certainly peak my interest. :) |