04-29-2008, 06:37 PM
No-frills Indian tractors click with US farmers
New York: Cheap tractors for emerging markets devised by Indian engineers at a research facility at Pune have found favour with recreational farmers in the US.
As a result, almost half of the no-frills tractors manufactured in India by US-based Deere & Co. now find their way overseas, the Fortune magazine reports.
Though known for making heavy-duty farm equipment, Deere, of Illinois, opened the Pune research centre in 2001 as a way to enter the Indian market. Its engineers developed four basic models - no GPS or air conditioning - but sturdy enough to handle the rigours of commercial farming.
Taking a cue from Indian auto maker Mahindra & Mahindra, Deere transplanted a slightly modified version at $14,400 of its Indian line to the US in 2002. Success came from selling to hobbyist farmers and bargain hunters, who looked for the same qualities as Indian farmers: affordability and manoeuvrability.
"These tractors are like Swiss Army knives. They get used for almost anything: mowing, transporting palates of hay, pushing dirt and moving manure," Mike Alvin, a product manager at Deere, told Fortune.
A typical buyer of the Indian-made Deere tractor is Jim Henderson, who works as a county executive in Franklin, Kentucky, and gets rid of stress by tending his 57-acre hay farm on weekends.
Brad Wolfe, a corn farmer in Scottsville, Kentucky, overcame scepticism at buying an Indian made tractor but now values his Deere tractor, Fortune reported.
Source: Indo-Asian News Service
New York: Cheap tractors for emerging markets devised by Indian engineers at a research facility at Pune have found favour with recreational farmers in the US.
As a result, almost half of the no-frills tractors manufactured in India by US-based Deere & Co. now find their way overseas, the Fortune magazine reports.
Though known for making heavy-duty farm equipment, Deere, of Illinois, opened the Pune research centre in 2001 as a way to enter the Indian market. Its engineers developed four basic models - no GPS or air conditioning - but sturdy enough to handle the rigours of commercial farming.
Taking a cue from Indian auto maker Mahindra & Mahindra, Deere transplanted a slightly modified version at $14,400 of its Indian line to the US in 2002. Success came from selling to hobbyist farmers and bargain hunters, who looked for the same qualities as Indian farmers: affordability and manoeuvrability.
"These tractors are like Swiss Army knives. They get used for almost anything: mowing, transporting palates of hay, pushing dirt and moving manure," Mike Alvin, a product manager at Deere, told Fortune.
A typical buyer of the Indian-made Deere tractor is Jim Henderson, who works as a county executive in Franklin, Kentucky, and gets rid of stress by tending his 57-acre hay farm on weekends.
Brad Wolfe, a corn farmer in Scottsville, Kentucky, overcame scepticism at buying an Indian made tractor but now values his Deere tractor, Fortune reported.
Source: Indo-Asian News Service