OSAKA, Japan (Reuters) — Japan’s Kubota Corp. plans to sell powerful, large tractors in North America and Europe next year.
Company president Yasuo Masumoto said Kubota was seeking a joint venture with a European or U.S. company this year to produce the tractors, which will have a horsepower of at least 200.
The company had previously raised the prospect of adding the 200 h.p. tractors to its line-up through acquisitions, but Masumoto said that route would take too much time.
“There’s no progress on an acquisition and we have to get into big machines,” he said.
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Kubota is targeting sales of about 300 units of these larger tractors in the year to March 2016, he added.
The North American market for large tractors is dominated by Deere & Co., CNH Industrial NV and Agco Corp.
Kubota is one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of equipment used in paddy farming, but it wants to expand into the market for wheat, corn and soybeans, which globally cover about four times the land area used for rice cultivation.
The company’s tractors now go up to 135 h.p. at most, which is insufficient for large farms.
Last year, Kubota invested $55 million in a plant in northern France, and plans to produce up to 170 h.p. tractors in April 2015 for the North American and European markets.
