Agco will produce Cat Challenger MT tractors

[AgMachinery]

According to a news story at reuters and yahoo Cat sells all the rights to the Challenger track-tractors to Agco. That's what i call news...
Agco will distribute the tractors (MT700) to their own dealers and the ones from Cat. I don't know yet if the tractors will carry MF, Agco, Fendt or the Cat brand name.
What do you think about this?


biz.yahoo.com/prnews/011217/hsm021_1.html

[NH-lover]

First they need New-Holland to build those tractors for them, and a little later they need Agco. Can't Cat build those MT's by themselves?

[Woodbeef]

Very interesting turn of events. Last I heard Cat was looking to become a full-line powerhouse in agriculture. I guess they changed their minds. Wonder what Claas thinks of this though,and if they are still looking to buy a tractor manufacturer?

Is this the way Agco is re-entering the large hp segment?

['Guest']

WHAT!!!
This makes no sense!
Will CAT drop out of the Ag-bussines alltogether?
What about the brand new factory in Nebraska?
What about Claas-labeled Challengers?
Will AGCO continue to let Claas sell those or bring them in themselves?
Will the Nebraska factory produce AGCO (MF-labled perhaps?) Lexion combines?
What about Cat-s brand new line of tillage equippment?

I feel very confued right now... Feel a headache coming on...

[European]

Really shocking news!!! Even more interesting than New Holland buying Case IH. Once more Farm Industry surprises us. A lot of questions come to my head:
- Economic situation of AGCO is quite bad compared to Caterpillar, isn´t it? The news do not fit. So, does the agreement involves AGCO selling a brand to Caterpillar?
- What do these news involve in terms of Caterpillar-Claas joint-venture (specially after Bologna´s EIMA Show where MT Series tractors were presented under Claas colours)?
- Does the agreement involves E Series of rubber-tracked tractors?
- Does it mean Caterpillar is leaving the ag business?
- What is happening to the Caterpillar´s new combine plant?
- What about the rumours on Caterpillar developing a range of articulated tractors?
- What about the pictures of Massey Ferguson rubber-tracked tractors (based on the 8200 Series) showed on press two years ago?

[AgMachinery]

After the first shock these are my thoughts on the Agco/Cat thing. It is a smart move from Agco. They needed a 300+ hp tractor and the Agcostar is not very up to date anymore. Agco wants to sell global, so developing a new Agcostar wouldn't seem very smart. They've tried to develop their own track-tractor but said the competition in this market is to strong. Buying the Cat and distributing it to Cat-dealers in yellow and in red to MF-dealers, orange to Agco-dealers and maybe even green to Fendt-dealers makes the market a lot bigger. If Agco wants they could even paint the Fendt yellow and sell them trough the Cat-dealerships in the US. However i don't think they would like to do that, considering their (multiple) brand strategy. Cat stays in the ag-bussiness but the costs are not as high anymore. What happens to the Lexion-combines in the US is still a question to me. I think Cat will keep on selling them, it would be to big a loss after such a large investment in a new factory.
In Europe i think the people at Claas doesn't know what hit them. Will they have acces to the Cat-tractor. I don't think so. Agco would rather sell the tractor through Fendt or MF. By the way, if Fendt has a Vario suitable for a 300 hp+ tractor, wouldn't it fit nicely into a Cat Challenger? That's what i would call state of the art technology.