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Cathrina Claas Muhlhauser and Helmut Claas.
CLAAS was always a family company and a recent change at the top sees that continue.
Patriarch Helmut Claas is handing over the reins to his daughter Cathrina Claas Muhlhauser, who takes up the position of chairwoman of the shareholders committee.
At 44 years-old, she becomes the third generation of the family to hold the role.
Ninety-four-year old Helmut, son of company founder August Claas, has held the role for 25 years and will now become honorary chairman.
During his time as chairmen, Claas has seen a rapid expansion – particularly in its presence beyond Europe – with production and sales now located in places like India, the USA, Russia, China and South America. Along the way, the company also acquired French tractor manufacturer Renault in 2003 to add prime movers to its machinery portfolio.
On the product front, during the same period, the German-headquartered company introduced the industry-leading Lexion combine harvesters in 1995 and the Jaguar self-propelled forage harvester ranges, which also holds a commanding position in the market.
The recently released Claas Jaguar 1000 Series has seen its flagship 1200 set a new official Guiness World Record in forage harvesting, harvesting 4096 tonnes of whole crop silage in 12 hours, alongside an efficiency record of just 0.49 litres of fuel consumption per tonne of silage harvested.
Innovation awards at international agricultural events are always on the wishlist of manufacturers.
Claas has announced the arrival of its new Jaguar 1000 series forage harvesters, taking power delivery beyond 1100hp, aimed at achieving 20% more throughput, better chop quality, greater efficiency and more operator comfort.
With the biennial Agritechnica Event just a few months away, manufacturers are offering sneak peaks at new innovations, with Claas recently highlighting its new Cerex 700 RC round baler.
Well known for its dominance in the harvesting arena, Claas has channelled its engineering excellence and a deep knowledge of the ag industry with the Fieldays release of the 2025 facelift Claas Arion 600C Evolution and Claas Night Edition Arion 660 tractors.
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