Fendt is now seen as the premium brand within the AGCO group. This is hardly any accident as it has belonged to the US giant since 1996 and 27 years gives plenty of time for the corporation to position the brand where it wishes in the market.
Today, the tractors are sold on their longevity and reliability, and as befits a tractor that sets out to be the last word in modernity, its digital technology component.
And perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised at the element of precision, for the company was founded by a clockmaker.
Family roots
Like many machinery companies in Germany, Fendt grew and prospered as a family-owned business, a feature of continental companies that were usually funded through industrial banks, rather than merchant banks, which put the interest of shareholders first and foremost.
This route of financing goes some way to explain why so many continental manufacturing companies are still family-owned, Amazone, Pottinger and Lemken to name but three.
The founders of Fendt were Johann Fendt and his second son Hermann.
Starting with petrol
Johann, together with Hermann and a local wheelwright, Lukas Heel, built their first self propelled-mower in 1928, which, despite the subsequent direction of the company, was actually powered by a petrol-fuelled engine, which some sources ascribe to being made by the Kramer brothers.
Further development in the workshop produced the first Dieselross (Diesehorse) tractor, which appeared the following year.
This was a 6hp model driven by a Deutz MAH711 compression ignition engine, and so the diesel engined lineage was founded.
The design was quite advanced for the time, with a mower that was powered independently of the transmission and was therefore detachable, allowing the tractor to plough or be used for other purposes.
Next generation
Johann Fendt died in 1933 and the elder son, Xaver, returned to the family business having spent time working for other engineering companies.
Together, with their mother, the two brothers gave the business a formal structure in 1937 and the modern Fendt company was born.
As with all companies in Europe, the war disrupted both production and development of new machinery. Whatever new tractors were built were equipped with wood gas generators due to the scarcity of oil.
This situation lasted until 1950 and the introduction of the Dieselross F15 which proved so successful that by 1955 the company was celebrating the building of its 50,000th tractor while the 100,000th followed just six years later.
Fendt innovates
The company was not just concerned about production figures though, there have been genuine attempts at innovation over the years including the 200/300 series tool carrier which moved the concept forward dramatically.
Another advance was the fluid flywheel, introduced in 1964, followed by the Turbomatik stepless drive in 1972.
Development work on hydrostatic transmissions had lapsed after the Turbomatik, but it was taken up again in 1987 resulting in the eventual launch of the Favorit 926 in 1995 with the constantly variable ‘Vario’ transmission, offering an infinite number of forward and reverse gears.
That year also saw the 500,000th Fendt roll off the production line, quite a landmark for the company, although it was the last to be celebrated under family ownership, for the five remaining heirs sold the entire business to AGCO the following year.
In 1981 the two brothers, Hermann and Xaver, retired from active management of the company and although it was still family-owned, the running of the company was left entirely to an independent management structure.
Corporate affairs
AGCO has, to its credit, since encouraged development of the firm, and it has firmly established itself as a premium name in the market, yet the pressures of standardisation across the corporation’s brands must remain strong and to what extent they will remain unique is a question that is now often asked within the trade and beyond.
It is an open secret that the AGCO management looked at the idea of amalgamating the three major brands into a global tractor marque, a notion that was firmly resisted by the brands themselves.
The union of Massey Harris and The Ferguson Company in 1953 had caused simmering discontent right up until the 1980s, according to insiders, and this would very likely be repeated should it be tried again.
What we are seeing from AGCO today is the promotion of Fendt as the jewel in the crown.
Recent reports to shareholders have emphasised the role of the company as a full line manufacturer and focused on its growing market presence in both North and South America.
While Massey Ferguson and Valtra are not being ignored in these presentations to the outside world, it is fairly obvious as to where AGCO sees the greater margins to be made and that is with a premium tractor bristling with all the latest digital technology.
There can be no doubt that Fendt is set for a strong future and the deep seated engineering bias with the company management will see it continue to innovate and be in the vanguard of tractor development for a long time yet.
The other Fendt
One small detail that is often left out of the Fendt story is that back in 1938 another family member, Clemens Fendt, also gave up making tower clocks and developed a tractor which was quite advanced for its time and known known as the Mammut, a name later adopted by Eicher.
Unfortunately for this enterprise, the wartime government of Germany closed down all the tractor manufacturers, except for two, one being Hermann Fendt’s business.
Clemens Fendt switched to manufacturing a range of horse-drawn trailers which his company carried on with until the 1960s.
