MARKtoe! JULY 2017 | Page 27

AGRICULTURE

As for their decision to be more involved in the South African market, Bellotto says:“ We are number one in Africa and the Middle East( MEA) – we’ re not number one here. I think we deserve to be number one here. We have the product offering, we have the service, we have the heritage, the credibility, the history.”

South Africa currently represents 26 % of the tractor market sales of New Holland in the European, Middle Eastern and African region( EMEA), which makes up 54 % of the company’ s revenues. Here, the company wants to increase its tractor market share particularly through increased penetration into the high horse power(> 100 kW) tractor category and also into combine harvesters.

New Holland is the global market leader in hay and forage equipment, and number one in grape harvesters both globally and in South Africa. According to Carlo Lambro, brand president of New Holland Agriculture, six out of every ten grape harvesters sold globally are of the New Holland Braud range. In South Africa, particularly the Western Cape, where around ten units are sold annually through Kaap Agri who has the sole distribution rights for South Africa, the favoured models are the Braud 8030L and the Braud 9060L.

Its merger with Case in 1999 and its acquisition of Kongskilde this year have widened its product range to such an extent that everything from planters and seeders to light construction vehicles are now found under the New Holland umbrella, much of it powered by its Fiat Powertrain Technologies engines – as are some of the equipment built by its competitors, notes Carlo Lambro.

Expansion to the rest of Southern Africa is considered a possible future second phase to the project.

“ We come here with a lot of expectation, but also a lot of heritage and capacity to be innovative and to satisfy the needs of our customers.”

“ The importers did an extremely good job. Now it’ s time to add a little bit more of a New Holland presence in the market,” says Alessandro Maritano, vice-president for New Holland’ s European, Middle East and African( EMEA) region.“ We come here with a lot of expectation, but also a lot of heritage and capacity to be innovative and to satisfy the needs of our customers.”

CNHi is controlled by the holding company Exor of the Agnelli family, famous founders of the Fiat, which today is part of Fiat Chrysler Auto, and which includes Ferrari.