Combines dealer in central mo closing

[silver_tech]

Is there going to be an auction. If so can we see a sale bill

 

[Red_Painter]

Cat dealer going to handle Gleaner and other Agco lines besides ChallengerIJ Not too common I would think. From a statement mentioned on another board, it seemed Agco was planning to reduce the number of dealers by about half if I remember right. Wonder if this decision is part of such a plan. Seems to me that the statement said that Agco would offer financial inducements to dealers covering bigger areas. Will more Cat dealers be be taking on more of the Agco lines I wonder.

 

[silvermech]

yes there will be auction dec 3. check at www.glenlarueauctioneer.com or post mail address and i will mail sale bill.

 

[Gleamer]

Silvermech, Hey the 52 you guys just rebuilt and delivered to Pilot Grove for us runs stong. It is light years ahead of the old M2. Dont know how to say how unfortunate the circumstances are there, it's not fair at all, nothing is what it used to be, but I still say everything happens for a reason and somtimes takes a while to figure it out. Farming is still in my blood because of all the good people at Scott implement. Thanks for the great years of service, Gary Stoecklein

 

[mo_farm]

How far to the next Gleaner dealerIJ Seems to me like agco is trying to put everything under the Massey-Challenger line up. I wonder if they are eventually planning to kill off all the old dealers and the Agco brand and put everything in the Cat dealerships.

 

[MostlyGreen]

I have a "hunch" that CAT may someday own AGCO; - that is, if history repeats itself. looking back 30 years, who would have ever thought that Case would have bought International Harvester. looking back 20 years, who would have ever thought that FiatAg would have bought New Holland, Ford and CaseIH. Heck, maybe even Deere and Company might be taken over.

 

[orange]

Many of us most certainly hope that the Orange_Silver never goes away. I do know from sources in Duluth that the Orange_Silver outsells the other 2 combined, in fact by a considerable margin. One of the issues that has been an irritant for corporate is the topic of dealer standards. From what I have heard, numerous efforts have been made to get facilities to improve their curb appeal and professionalism, many times falling on deaf ears. With the current industry leading products that AGCO sells and the financial stability of the company, their should be no hesitation to build new, or upgrade facilities. Several Deere and Case dealers have done so, many being family owned operations. Without speaking for any dealerships, I know here in the upper western corn belt, some AGCO facilities top Deere facilities and some still look like 19th century blacksmith shops, and this is the rub with Duluth. I just wish that AGCO would put together programs that would assist all existing dealers to ratchet up their standards without closing. Selling the Orange_Silver would seem to be a long term success opportunity for a motivated individual(s) with the current product line.

 

[mo_farm]

Back in the late 70's my n1 dealer of many years gave in to the pressure from then Allis Chalmers and built a new facility. At the time it was state of the art with a big new shop and lots of room. Trouble was the 1980's were very unkind to this area, the doubble whammey of back to back crop failures and low commodity prices for what little we did grow effectively dried up demand for new equipment and shop work dropped off dramitacally. By the time Deutz took over he was out of business. The dealership I do business at now is still a 1 store operation, yes the shop could be bigger but the parts and service are there. I am sure Agco would like them to modernize but I don't blame the dealer for not wanting to sink several million dollars into new facilities given the ups and downs of the farm equipment industry. What Agco, and all ag companies for that matter, need to realize is that give the choice between having a local dealer with older facilities with a good parts inventory and service personell or having to drive 100 miles to a dealer with a big new building most farmers would chose the local man hands down.