Tractor Brand Reputations

[Pedro el Diablo]

I've never encountered most of these brands before. What kind of reputation do they have? Are certain brands associated with a different kinds of farming, different kinds of farmer, or different regions?

[Tankfriend]

Let's see:
RigiTrac
They're a very small manufacturer from Switzerland, specialized on farming in mountainous terrain. Their vehicles are mostly very expensive relative to vehicles of equal power output from other brands. That's because they come with a wide range of features you rarely see on vehicles of their size and power from other manufactuers, like all-wheel steering, a wider range of motion to balance out hill slopes etc.

You'll mostly find them in Switzerland and Central/Western Europe focused around the Alps.

Landini (Argo Tractors S.p.A.)
They're a small manufacturer from Italy mostly specialized on tractors for vineyards, orchards etc. Reputation in that area seems to be solid.
Haven't heard much about their standard tractors on the net, but it's usually not especially favourable. "Cheap, and it shows" seems to be the tendency.

You'll mostly find them in Italy and Central/Western Europe focused around the vineyard regions.

New Holland (CNH Industrial)
Large manufacturer from the US with a full range of vehicles that was formed out of New Holland, Ford, and Fiat. They don't seem to have any especially good or bad reputation with their tractors, while their combine harvesters are often noted as very good.

You can find them worldwide.

Zetor
A small manufacturer from the Czech Republic. Like most Eastern European / Russian manufacturers, they have a reputation of "cheap, rugged, reliable" at the cost of creature comforts and advanced features you might find on more expensive brands.

You can find them mostly in Eastern Europe.

Massey Ferguson (AGCO)
A large manufacturer from the US with an almost-full range of vehicles (no especially high-powered tracked tractors). Overall good and solid reputation, but they're sometimes seen as a cheaper, less sophisticated alternative to Fendt, especially in Europe.

You can find them worldwide.

Fendt (AGCO)
A large manufacturer from Germany with a full range of vehicles, and overall an exceptional reputation for quality and longevity, but also price. A common claim from fans of other brands is that they're nothing more than overpriced "transport tractors", but they must've gotten their market dominance in Europe from somewhere...

You can find them worldwide, though especially in Europe.

Iseki
Third-largest manufacturer from Japan that's mostly specialized on small-scale tractors for public services, and specialized rice farming vehicles. Their public-service vehicles are fairly widespread outside of Japan, but I haven't heard much of their mid-range tractors. If those are comparable to their competitor Kubota (which isn't in the game), then they're cheap, reliable but still fairly well equipped at the cost of creature comforts.

You can find them mostly in Japan and Asia, I suspect. The public service vehicles are worldwide.

Bührer
Small manufacturer from Switzerland that stopped producing in the '70s. They got quite famous in their time for rugged reliability and developing and introducing features other manufacturers didn't have then, as far as I've heard.

You can find them mostly in Switzerland and Central/Western Europe.

Valtra (AGCO)
Medium manufacturer from Finland. Somewhere in between Massey Ferguson and Fendt in terms of perceived quality and price, and they're especially well-known for their rear driving system.

You can find them worldwide, though especially in Europe.

John Deere
The largest single-brand manufacturer with the largest single-brand market share worldwide, coming from the US. They have a full range of vehicles, and you can basically find them anywhere modern farming equipment is present. Older models have a reputation for exceptional reliability and longevity, whereas newer models try the cutting-edge technology and powerhouse approach. They also have a reputation for being very pricy, though, to the point where fans of other brands claim they're too expensive for what they can do (not unlike Fendt, for example).

You cand find them worldwide.

Steyr (CNH Industrial)
Manufacturer from Austria. The pre-1996 models are sought after as rugged and reliable work horses. The 1996 to 1999 models are virtually identical in reputation to Case, as Steyr was bought up. And since 1999, their tractors are virtually identical to New Holland, as CNH Industrial was formed from Case and New Holland in that year. So, overall, a good reputation, but not exceptional.

You can find them mostly in Europe, but generally closer to the Alps.

Lindner
Small manufacturer from Austria. Noticeably larger than RigiTrac but similar in that they also specialize on farming in mountainous terrain. They also offer a range of extra features you won't see on comparably large/powerful tractors of other brands, at a high price.

You'll motly find them in Europe around the Alps.

Case IH (CNH International)
Large manufacturer from the US with a full range of vehicles that was formed - among others - from Case Corporation, International Harvester, and Fortschritt (from Eastern Germany). Similar to New Holland, they have no especially good or bad reputation, though they are often noted for their Steiger and Quadtrac high-power tractors, and for being the only large manufacturer to completely focus on rotary-system harvester combines (a tech they got off of Fortschritt).
Their older tracor models (like the 1455) are still active and sought after as rugged, reliable work horses.

You can find them worldwide.

Claas
Large manufacturer from Germany with a full range of vehicles. They're usually noted for producing exceptional harvester combines and forage harvesters. The tractor part of the business started out with acquiring that corresponding piece of the Renault company, and reputation was terrible, initially, due to poor quality control. But today, they seem to have worked their way up to a solid reputation.

They're mostly focused on Europe, but can be found worldwide.

McCormick (Argo Tractors S.p.A.)
A small manufacturer from Italy that produces the same tractors as Landini, plus a few larger models for the mid-to-high power section. Apart from the brand name, this company has no relations to the original company and brand that ceased to exist in 1985, when Case IH was formed.
Reputation with the larger tractors generally seems to be similar to Landini, i.e. "cheap and it shows".

You can mostly find them around Italy and France, afaik.

JCB
Large British manufacturer, especially known for their FasTrac tractors, which are specialized for high-speed transport duty, but can also work on the field.

Can be found in the British Isles and in Europe, and theoretically anywhere you can find JCB, i.e. worldwide.

Deutz-Fahr (SDF Group)
Large manufacturer from Germany with a portfolio up to high-power tractors but without tracked tractors. Their older models (like the DX and AgroStar) are still sought after as rugged, reliable workhorses that are fairly cheap to maintain, and Deutz diesel engines are a thing of fame, as well. Bad development and quality control on some of the Agrotron models around the turn of the millenium cost them some of that reputation, but it seems to look better these days, again.

You can find them mostly in Europe.

Rostselmash
Largest agricultural equipment producer in Russia, primarily concentrated on harvester combines. Can't tell you much about these, but Eastern European / Russian equipment generally has a reputation as cheap, rugged, reliable, but without creature comforts and advanced features.

I suspect you can mostly find these in Eastern Europe, Russia and the states of the former Soviet Union, in general.

Challenger (AGCO)
Originally belonging to Caterpillar, the brand name is used in license by AGCO these days. Apart from the Fendt 1000 Vario and their specialized Gator vehicles, they only produce tracked high-power tractors.

You can mostly find these in the US.

Versatile (Rostselmash)
Originally a Canadian company, they were acquired by Rostselmash in 2007.
They're famous for their large, high-power 4WD tractors, and temporarily held much of that market in their hands. Later on, though, they weren't exactly fortunate and were bought and sold multiple times by different corporations.

You can mostly find these in the US and Canada. I suspect you can also find them or their derivatives in Russia, by now, too.

[Reese]

All colour tractors are united under one goal: To be used by the farmer to maintain Earth's population and greed. It does not matter what colour you choose, just that you use it wisely and for the benefit of us all. You may prefer a certain colour. Your neighbor may prefer another. Usually your first experience is the determining factor, but always be open to alternatives.

[Pedro el Diablo]

Originally posted by Tankfriend:

Let's see:

RigiTrac
They're a very small manufacturer from Switzerland, specialized on farming in mountainous terrain...

Whoa, what an excellent and thorough response! Thank you!