Truly end of an era.
The Big Massey
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Cancelled orders?!
Did they substitute Fendt units?
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first thing I thought of....
local dealer told me he has 3 deals written.. and he has a couple more ordered.. wasn't long ago he was talking to me about one of them.. interesting times..
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662 Posts
And they were too stupid to badge the Ideal Massey. Its that way in other places .
Yes our dealer had 3 MF9565 s on order too one was suppose to be sold so it will be interesting to see what happens. We were also thinking of trading our 9560 in, but if this is true we will be shopping elsewhere if AGCO doesn't label an Ideal as a MF with red paint.
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I’ve operated in the same fields with a Fendt 9 and have ridden in them, if you avoid Agco Fendts just because they are nether red nor are badged MF you are ignoring a very decent machine.
I'm sure the Ideal is a fine machine but It will not be our first choice because it is not branded MF. Its all about service and where we are located, Fendt is just a no go logistically. The thing that disappoints me the most is that we are once again removed from options, no wonder John Deere is number one. There is for sure something wrong with AGCO because you hardly see any pure AGCO dealers. They all have multiple lines, which proved to be a good thing when our dealer rolled us into a Versatile when AGCO bailed on the 4WDs. It will be interesting to see what kind of combine he can come up with for us next trade interval.
I liked our 8460 so I hope Claas is an option.Since most Massey dealers are not Ideal dealers, substitution was never an option.
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4,011 Posts
So...they are going to trim dealers to even less than they already have?
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There is not much for MF dealers to sell anymore. Most are already affiliated with Versatile, Kubota, Claas, to name a few. Agco just does not get it. MF combines were sold in pockets where there were dealers and for them to actually make a go with Ideal they require more, Most of my neighbors don't run Deere because it's a superior machine. They run Deere because they have 4 dealers in a 75 Kilometer range. I would have to drive 120 K to get to a IDEAL dealer. My MF dealer was 40 kilometers away. He also had a number of combines pre sold I heard. One at least because it was for me. He is talking to other MFG is the last I heard. Reminds me of when Varity (OLD MF company owner) decided they were to expand their business and went into the car parts business instead of spending any money in R&D for combines . How did that turn out? Locally we had a good family business selling Fendt tractors but when he sold his dealership to a Multi-national, a lot of guys traded off. I really think AGCO has their head in the sand if they want any market share gains with the IDEAL combine. Interesting story, talking to my neighbor larger for MB small for SK farmer with 5000 acres actually thought the closest FENDT dealer was Saskatoon as he would drive by it when going to see his daughter in Edmonton. I believe no one from AGCO's head office in Hesston has ever travelled Western Canada during harvest to see what actual population of MF combines. At least in our area. GOOD LUCK AGCO and good bye. I have sold my shares. That is it story said. I am DONE.
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Interesting in Manitoba a neighbour traded in his Masseys for two new green fendts from little Morden Service. I Wondered what the deal was because I thought Fendt was re branding to the grey colored Ideal combine. Those green Fendts must be up selling the Versatile because I have not seen a trace of them in the Red River Valley. They are Popular across europe and seem to have a good track record. I guess Massey not putting the badge on the agco combine explains why the neighbour switch to a green fendt. Looks like the same combine from far but far from good, well i will let him be the judge of that!.
AGCO is a company that cant decide on colours!
Anyways, anybody here know the list price of the green fendts? Must be a heck of a lease price for a guy who has all the choice of color combines in Morden Mb to stick his neck out on a fendt. Service would be an issue or maybe parts.
We retired Masseys combines in the 70s and thats all i am going to say about Massey combines!
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990 Posts
talked to a dealer today... yes production for this year has been cancelled, But nothing concrete has come from Agco, as of yet on future production of the Masseys.. ( I think like many others the writing is one the wall). Agco had told the dealers before the order dates for the Masseys that they needed 50 orders, they got 36.. Some dealers stepped up but a lot did nothing.. this isn't all on Agco, some dealers have to shoulder the blame..
My question is.... How many of the Ideals from last year are still sitting on dealer lots? How many Ideals have been ordered for this year? How does Gleaner fit into this?
I don't think the Gleaner or Ideal lines are going to capture the lost Massey sales...there is just too much difference between the 3 of them in design..
as far as the Challenger 4 wheel drive goes, Agco sold a **** lot of them last year and is gaining market share.. it isn't going anywhere in the near future.
Having said all of this... Agco is a square peg trying to fit into a round hole..."as a Farmer with a Massey combine and swather" their business plan for North America sucks as far as I'm concerned.
Seems clear that AGCO want to slowly starve out their smaller dealers and focus on corporate stores. That's exactly what happened in Manitoba with CNH, and as a direct consequence the quality of service to most customers has taken a serious turn for the worse.
Other than the now product-deprived Massey dealers, the only family run stores left here are a couple of Deere stores. The only Fendt dealer in Manitoba went from a client-focused family owned business from who we bought two combines, two tractors, a swather, and years of parts and service, to a corporate storefront who told us right to our faces that they are not interested in supporting family farms like ours, only folks who can lease multiple Lexions (they are an IDEAL dealer in name only). We switched to a family owned Massey dealer, who provided us with outstanding support for the last several years.
We would have loved to replace our previous Massey combine with another Massey, but since somebody at AGCO has decided that they are not interested in supporting the kind of dealers we like to work with, or supporting average sized family farms like ours, we felt forced to buy a Deere combine instead.
It's not really an issue of brand for us (although we have been running Massey equipment since my grandfather bought a 44 tractor six decades ago, so there is a serious nostalgia factor for sure). It's really about relationships and doing business with people you can trust. Sadly, AGCO just doesn't seem to see it that way.
Your "square peg in a round hole" comment is interesting. It's almost as if AGCO's North American marketing folks have decided to put all their eggs into the Fendt basket in an effort to take Deere head on. I'm not a marketing specialist, but if that's what they are in fact doing, it seems doomed to fail in a spectacular fashion.
I think AGCO's problem goes back to when they abandoned the Allis and White lines. They got away with it that time as MF and Gleaner were big enough to carry the company on, but this time I think dropping MF combines are going to hurt the smaller dealers especially in western Canada. The Challenger 4wd is another stupid move, instead they should of given that to MF and let the track unit be Fendt.
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1,061 Posts
I don't know about how many were sold this year, the salesman said something threw harvest that last year there was 136 sold in North America. If you go by a dealership and there is a bunch of machines sitting around, they have an extensive update program going on with all of the machine. I don't know what all they are doing as ours is still at the dealer. Since the factory is in Italy all the parts for the change ups are apparently coming from their. If they can keep the sales volumes up they will start production in Hesston. Or so I have been told. Still planning on posting my review of our Ideal, but I want to see what the changeups are before I make that post.
One thing that is very apparent from running an Ideal this fall, coming from running a Massey, is that the Ideal is a much superior machine. Where we are at, in the time it takes me to drive to our AGCO dealer, I could go to 2 Deere dealerships, 2 different case and new holland dealership groups, and 2 different Claas dealers. Most of which are a half hour closer, I could be at a Case, New Holland or Deere dealer in less that 20 minutes. After our experience running the competition in demos over the past 4 years, I have no problem driving past the dealers that are closer to get to the AGCO dealer. Starting harvest, not going to lie, we were rather nervous. So was the dealer. They knew that the writing was on the wall for the Massey combine, and they appear to be relieved that the Ideal was as good as it was right out of the box. Even with the changeups that are needing to be done.
Just my opinion, the only machine we demo'd that was really comparable to this Ideal was the Claas. In all honesty, Claas was the way I wanted to go. But, because of price, and family, we didn't. And based on the first year experience, we don't regret it. This may change over time, but for right now we are happy with the decision that we made.
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990 Posts
Agco has finally made a smart move, allowing Manitoba dealers become Fendt dealers also.. Now the Ideal will be available in Man. If the Massey combines are dropped.. the Basic Ideal isn't that much more then a Massey. One guy who got the basic Ideal 8 said he felt that it was a deal over the Massey when U consider the capacity, improved sample, upgraded cab and warranty.. If this is true dropping the Masseys is no different then just bring out an improved, updated Massey.. anyone upset over the loss of the Massey name, needs to look at the bigger picture.. The name means nothing to me, I want the best machine for the lowest cost.. If the Ideal will do that, then I'll have one.. especially with their extended warranty.
I would like to see the 4 wheel drive being offered to all the dealers.
Isn't the Challenger line being dropped?
If it is, has anyone heard what is happening to the Challenger 4 wheelers..????
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