Tractor, harvester IT comes of age
Over the last halfdecade, digital technology has appeared to be the “must-have” for tractor and machinery companies, who believe that bringing IT to tractors and farming will offer its customers huge benefits.
And despite supply chain challenges, the company systematically tackled a large order backlog and delivered machinery to its customers around the world.
Sales totalled €6.1 billion, an increase of just under 25%, with significant improvements in North America, and especially in Europe. The family-owned business managed to more than triple gross income before taxes, to €522.3 million from €166.3 million in the previous year, while net income increased to €347.1 million.
During the year, Claas picked up awards, with the new Xerion 12.650 Terra Trac being named Tractor of the Year 2024, while the entire series was honoured with the Farm Machine 2024 award in the large tractor category.
Claas also completed its combine harvester product family by launching the Evion, a new series that is especially tailored for small farms. Together with the Lexion and Trion series, the company now offers a modern and wide-ranging combine harvester product range.
Moving away from its traditional method of in-house development to a route of alliances and partnerships, Claas joined forces with the start-up AgXeed and the long-standing partner Amazone to set up the world’s first multi-manufacturer autonomy alliance, 3A – Advanced Automation & Autonomy.
The goal of the collaboration is to advance the automation of agricultural processes and the development of agricultural machinery that is capable of working autonomously.
Last year also marked two anniversaries for the company, including marking 50 years since the company’s first self-propelled forage harvester was built in Harsewinkel, to a position today where the Jaguar machines dominate the global market.
The family business also looked back on 20 years of Claas tractors, with the 150,000th tractor rolling off the assembly line in Le Mans in early 2019, to be followed four years later, just in time for the 20th anniversary, to a figure that is estimated to stand at 200,000.
Looking forwards, the company warns that it is preparing itself for a more difficult market environment, noting the pace of economic activity is slowing perceptibly in the core markets in Central and Western Europe and North America, due in no small part to high inflation and mounting geopolitical tensions.
