It was in May 2022 that Claas unexpectedly announced the sale of its Cargos range of forage harvester wagons to fellow Bavarian company, Fliegl of Kirchdorf.
Claas had decided that the forage wagon market was static, with several major companies all vying for a limited amount of business, which in turn would keep prices low and make investment in developing the product an unattractive proposition.
The company was also busy investing in its Bad Saulgau facility and had decided that the space devoted to forage wagons could be better deployed to the production of Orbis maize headers, and it was these that Agriland saw being assembled there during a recent visit.
Quite how the sale came about is unknown, yet German industry tends to be more cooperative and close knit than its western counterpart so there is not always the need to trawl around a long list of likely companies hoping one of them might bite.
Nor would it have been a case of just selling the range off to the highest bidder, Claas did not want to appear to be abandoning its customers who had bought the machines in good faith.
There had to be a sense of continuity with spares and support being available well into the future.
A good match with Fliegl
Fliegl would appear to have been an ideal candidate as purchaser, for it had already carved a niche for itself in the area where road and farm logistics meet; producing tipper trailers; push off trailers; muck spreaders; slurry tankers and so on.
All of these products all involve the collection and transport of farm products, so the harvesting and carriage of forage crops would appear a natural extension of the company’s activities, a company that is already well-established and could be trusted to carry the Claas flame.
Yet it wasn’t a question of posting over the drawings and walking away. There was, apparently, an agreed handover period, during which Fliegl could continue to use the Cargos name and Claas livery, while Claas would continue to help Fliegl build and develop the product.
Quite how long this period was set to last is something that Claas has not divulged, and there is every chance that there is no deadline cast in stone so far.
Wider use
Now that Fliegl is selling the machines, there appears to be a change of emphasis in their use. Claas had sold the Cargos wagons as part of its grassland range, but Fliegl see them as much more than that.
In its marketing literature, they are billed as being multitask machines that can be used for as forage wagons, as intended, or the collection and chopper mechanism may be removed and they become moving floor trailers.
It is this feature which is emphasised by Fliegl who see them at home in the timber industry as much as on farms where they might also be used for following a harvester or chaff collecting.
This flexibility could well be the secret to Fliegl’s success with the concept.
While other manufacturers are focussing on the forage harvesting aspect, Fliegl is drawing on its experience in the transport field and finding new opportunities for a machine that might otherwise have stagnated in its development.
