Claas officially launched its new line of high horsepower four-wheel drive tractors at Ag In Motion.
“We have never launched a Claas product, a big, huge important Claas product, outside of Europe, ever, and we picked Canada because this product has been designed for you and that’s why you deserve to see it first,” said Cathrina Claas-Muehlhaeuser, chair of the company’s supervisory board.
“It’s been designed not for European purposes; it’s been designed for North America.”
Claas-Muehlhaeuser took over the role from her father in 2020 and is the third Claas generation in a leadership role at the family business, which was founded in 1913.
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Johannes Weisbrodt, project leader for the Xerion 12 series, said it was time to evolve beyond the tractors the company offers.
“We organize customer focus groups in 2017 with 300 customers from 10 key countries to understand their needs in the high horsepower tractor segment, and their view on how a Claas tractor in that category should look like,” Weisbrodt said.
“The major challenge, for sure, was to meet the demands of the over 600 horsepower by using a ridged frame design and a CVT transmission, which has never been achieved before.”
He said the tractor’s design team began by modifying a Xerion 5000 with a bigger engine to see what the drive train would look like, and the company has been operating prototypes since 2021.
“In total, the Xerion 12 series underwent more than 50,000 hours of intensive testing and validation,” Weisbrodt said.
“We had them operating at full load in real field conditions, where we deployed the machine to various climate conditions, from U.S.A. to Canada to Middle and Eastern Europe in demanding applications, ranging from high speed to heavy tillage to air seeding to grain cart operation.”
Frans Reijmers, the company’s North American product manager for tractors, said there are two models of Xerion 12 series tractors equipped with either 585 or 653 maximum horsepower.
Both models use the Mercedes-Benz 15.6-litre engine and come equipped with the only four-range CVT transmission in the class.
“The European market doesn’t use 650 h.p. as much as we do here in Saskatoon or Alberta, Manitoba and the Dakotas. These are the places for the large air seeder market with the high demands of hydraulic flow. So that’s what this tractor is really built for,” Reijmers said.
Xerion 12 series is capable of up to 140 gallons per minute hydraulic flow, the highest of any tractor on the market.
The tractor can travel up to 40 km-h when equipped with the 30 inch or 36 inch tracks and up to 50 km-h when equipped with the 800/70 R 42 duels.
“We didn’t forget about the innovative rigid frame design that we have in the past, it’s still incorporated in this as well. So what that does is it gives us the ability to run 31 m.p.h. down the road. There’s absolutely no way an articulated tractor would do that,” Reijmers said.
The Xerion 12 series comes with Cemos Automatic, a self-learning operator assistance system with automated functions that monitor sensors and settings based on agro-economic parameters and suggests optimal settings.
“For those who are familiar with Claas combines, and many of you guys here have Jaguars, so you’re familiar with the Cemos system, we’ve incorporated the Cemos system on this Xerion 12 series,” Reijmers said.
“It’s harder and harder to find labour that is fully experienced, and we still want you to use the tractor whenever it’s time to use it. So even if as a novice or an inexperienced operator, that Cemos system allows the operator to ride comfortably and at max capacity throughout the day without having to be an expert.”
He said the Xerion 12 series fills a significant gap in the products the Claas dealer network in Canada offers to its customers.
The Xerion tractors to date have been multi-tool implements capable of a multitude of different applications with help of the reversible cab.
“The Xerion 12 series is built to pull. It is really to compete head on with the four-wheel drive market where there is Deere, Case or Versatile, or the dual track systems Agco (Fendt) is offering. It will take any one of those on,” Reijmers said.
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