Farmtrac North America
PRESS RELEASE 10/18/05
Farmtrac North America, LLC a Tarboro, NC based manufacturer and distributor of Tractors, Loaders, Backhoes and Implements launched its new generation 7-Series tractors (75-115 HP) at Sun-belt Expo 2005 at Moultrie, GA. Launching the new Series, Vijay Raina, President & CEO of Farmtrac said, "the 7-Series represents the first step in a series of major product range upgradation and expansion plans of the company. Over the next twenty four months, the company would progressively be launching 14 more models of open station tractors and 9 models of Cab tractors to expand its product offering to over 50 models of tractors". In addition, the company also displayed its expanded range of Loaders, Backhoes and Implements at the Sunbelt Expo 2005.
Farmtrac North America, LLC is a subsidiary of Escorts Limited "an Indian Engineering conglomerate involved in manufacturing of Tractors, Construction & Material Handling Equipment and Automotive Components. Escorts currently owns 75% of Farmtrac North America, LLC which it acquired in a series of equity investments starting 1999. The company was originally incorporated in 1946 as Long Mfg. N.C. Inc. and has been in business in United States for nearly six decades. Farmtrac currently distributes its products through a network of 300 dealers spread in 32 states. Under a $10 million Business Process Re-engineering Project started in mid-2004, Farmtrac is in the process of upgrading and expanding its manufacturing facilities at Tarboro to triple its manufacturing capacity using Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) as its core philosophy. Vijay Raina added that other than John Deere, New Holland, AGCO and Kubota, Farmtrac is the only tractor company that has invested in manufacturing facilities in United States; making investments which are so very necessary to become a major player in United States.
Farmtrac also announced a strategic tie-up with the Italian industrial group SAME DEUTZ-FAHR, a world leader in Ag. Tractors, Diesel engines and Combine Harvesters. The $1.1 billion SAME DEUTZ-FAHR Group manufactures and sells its products under the SAME, LAMBORGHINI, DEUTZ-FAHR and HÜRLIMANN brand names and its product range comprises of tractors from 30 to 265 HP including highly specialized orchard, vineyard and crawlers tractors. Under separate agreements signed between them, the two companies would co-operate with each other for development, sourcing and marketing of tractors to become a major player in the US market. While on one hand, SAME has undertaken to manufacture the 7-Series tractors for Farmtrac, in a separate relationship Farmtrac would undertake the Distribution of SAME brand in North America. The two companies are also co-operating to develop a new range of tractors to be launched in the spring of 2007.
In a separate statement released to the Italian press, SAME DEUTZ-FAHR Chairman Vittorio Carozza said, "This co-operation agreement with one of India's most highly qualified tractor manufacturers, underlines our growing interest for internationalization projects as a necessary tool for the growth of our industrial group. This agreement can be considered another important step of our strategy aimed at reinforcing our role as a Global Competitor in tractors, agricultural machinery and diesel engines".