A ‘European dealer satisfaction survey‘ for 2018 has turned up some interesting findings; in which major tractor manufacturers (brands) have effectively been ranked against several criteria.
There is also an aggregate, overall ranking which pits the big brands head-to-head.
The data is from a CLIMMAR survey. CLIMMAR is a network of farm machinery dealer organisations across much of Europe.
The survey encompassed participating dealers from 10 countries (up from eight the last time the survey was conducted) – namely Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands and the UK.
A total of 931 dealers took part – down 19% from 1,159 for the previous (2017) survey.
On a brand-by-brand breakdown, the results were broadly similar to those for 2017.
For dealer satisfaction, Kubota was ranked as the joint highest manufacturer overall (across all criteria) at 14.5% – in a similar performance to last year.
It was tied with Fendt in poll position. The German brand also scored 14.5% – up from 13.8% last year.
Source: CLIMMAR
In joint second place were Valtra and John Deere – both on 13.4%. These were followed by Case IH (12.7%), Claas (12.6%) and New Holland (12.1%). Next up was Massey Ferguson (11.6%), Deutz-Fahr (11.2%) and Same (10.4%).
Some brands improved their standing from last year to this; others fell down the ranking.
Source: CLIMMAR
Among the individual 14 criteria, perhaps the single most important was ‘brand image and impact‘. Dealers were also asked to rate each manufacturer solely on this basis. The results of this part of the survey are shown below.
Source: CLIMMAR
It’s clear that dealers rated Fendt as having the strongest ‘brand image and impact’; it scored 17.1%. John Deere was next (17%), followed by Kubota (15.5%), Valtra (15.1%) and New Holland (14.8%).
Next up was Case IH (14.7%), Massey Ferguson (14.4%), Claas (13.7%), Deutz-Fahr (13%) and Same (12.3%).
There was some movement in the relative standings of each manufacturer between 2017 and 2018. These changes can be seen below.
It’s clear that John Deere made the biggest gain, followed by Case IH and Kubota. Deutz-Fahr showed the biggest loss of standing in this part of the 2018 survey, followed by Massey Ferguson and Claas.
Of course, manufacturers were ranked on 13 other criteria too. For completeness, a list of all criteria is provided in the table below.
Survey ranking criteria:
- Brand image and impact;
- Marketing of tractors;
- Marketing of spare parts;
- After-sales service and warranty;
- Computer services;
- Advertising and product support material;
- Administration and terms of payment;
- Training;
- The management;
- Manufacturer/dealer relations;
- Profitability contribution;
- Improvements;
- Financing;
- Anti-theft;
- Brand overall (‘average’) rating.
Stay tuned to AgriLand for details of how the various manufacturers fared in some of these other specific areas.
Who or what is CLIMMAR?
CLIMMAR is a European network of agricultural machinery dealers; it encompasses 16 national associations and their member companies.
In all, its 16 national bodies account for 18,864 dealers and dealerships. In total, they employ almost 160,000 people. They sell to a hinterland inhabited by almost 3,500,000 farmers.
