Challenger equipment
Challenger is a brand of the agricultural machinery manufacturer AGCO and was created in 2001 through the takeover of the tractor division from Caterpillar . The takeover included the tracked tractors division. AGCO expanded the model range with combine harvesters , tillage equipment , balers and conventional tractors. AGCO now offers a wide range of agricultural implements under the brand name Challenger.
history
In 1999, Caterpillar entered into a joint venture with the German company Claas to mutually market agricultural machinery. CAT Challenger tractors and crawler tractors were sold as Claas machines in Europe, while Claas Lexion combines were sold under the CAT brand in North America. A combine harvester plant was also built together in Omaha . The fifty percent Caterpillar shares in this as well as in the joint venture were bought by Claas in 2002, when Caterpillar decided to give up the production of crawler tractors for agriculture and to sell them to the AGCO Group. The brand name Challenger still belongs to Caterpillar and is used under license by the AGCO group.
The Fendt 1000 Vario model has been available on the American market under the Challenger brand since 2016 . The crawler tractors have been sold on the European market as Fendt 900 MT and Fendt 1100 MT since 2017.
