Fendt


Fendt is a German manufacturer of agricultural tractors and machines, manufacturing and marketing a full line of tractors, combine harvesters and balers. It is part of the AGCO Corporation. It was founded in 1930 by Xaver Fendt and purchased by AGCO in 1997.

History

The history of the craftsman family Fendt goes back 350 years. The production of tower clocks, lead strings and violins spread their fame in the Allgäu region. The family also farmed on a sideline and had a small trade in agricultural equipment. Johann Georg Fendt, born on 16 August 1868, took over the family business of his father Franz Xaver in 1898 and began selling Deutz stationary engines, where he also carried out on-site maintenance and repair work. While the first born son Xaver left the family business and worked at big companies like Deutz or BMW. Hermann also worked with his father in his daily work. Both recognized the need for agricultural utility machines and ventured in 1928 to build a motorized grass mower.
The first 6 hp Dieselross tractor was built in 1930 by the brothers Hermann and Xaver Fendt under the guidance of their father Johann Georg Fendt. In 1937, the two incorporated the company in the commercial register. In 1938, the Fendt brothers built the Dieselross F 22 with up to 22 hp which was followed by Dieselross series until 1958. This development made them known beyond the borders of the Allgäu for the first time. In 1958, a new class of tractor series "ff" series with the types Favorit, Farmer and Fix were launched. The design was changed, and offered the engine power from 15 to 80 hp. The favorite 1 was trend-setting in form and technical equipment, with multi-course fine-step transmission system. The recent series of Vario Class was unveiled in 1996 which are innovative in design, revolutionary in gearbox technology and the world's first large tractor with the stepless Vario transmission.
Fendt is considered a premium brand within the AGCO Group and, with a development budget of around € 62 million in 2013, is a global driver of innovation in the agricultural equipment industry. The product range includes tractors, forage harvesters, combine harvesters, rakes, tedders, mowers and balers.
The Fendt brand has the largest share in the tractor market of Europe. Fendt is the market leader in Germany with a share of 24.2 percent in 2018. With a total number of 17,837 tractors were sold alone in France, which until then the highest number in the company's history. In the annual image barometer published by the DLG, in which German contractors and farmers are surveyed about agricultural engineering companies, Fendt took first place in 2013 with 99.3 out of a possible 100 points. The company is a member of the VDMA, Department of Agricultural Engineering.

Product Range

Fendt offers a range of tractors from 70-500 hp, a range of combine harvesters 220-500 hp, forage equipment including forage wagons, tedders, mowers and rakes badged under the Fendt brand after Fella being acquired by AGCO, Balers formally Heston balers now under the fendt brand since being acquired by AGCO, Forage harvesters 625-850 hp which use Kemper headers, tractor mounted loaders and tractors modified for the municipalities and forestry industries. Forage equipment, balers and combines can be found across most AGCO brands and in general are mechanically identical and are sold under the best performing brand respective to the area.

Tractors

RangePower Range
200 Vario Series51–81 / 70–110
300 Vario Series70–92 / 95–135
500 Vario Series92–121 / 125–165
700 Vario Series96–132 / 130–240
800 Vario Series136–151 / 185–287
900 Vario Series202–265 /275 –390
1000 Vario Series279–368 / 380–517

Combines

RangePower Range-
IDEAL336 kW / 451 hp589 kW / 790 hp
C-Series225 kW / 306 hp
265 kW / 360 hp		-
L-Series179kW / 243 hp
225kW / 306 hp		-
E-Series 5225160 kW / 218 hp-
E-Series 5185129 kW / 175 hp-

Balers

Forage Harvesters

Fendt KatanaPower
65460 kW / 625 hp
85625 kW / 900 hp

Fendt Plant protection technology

Miscellaneous

Technology

Vario Transmission

The Vario transmission was first developed in the 1970s, but due to lack of funding it was never seen on a production tractor until 1996, when Fendt launched the revolutionary Fendt 926 Vario. This was the first ever stepless transmission to be launched in the tractor market, and is patented to be the only truly stepless transmission when it was first developed. Competitors were unable to make a transmission as advanced as a Fendt Vario at the time with hydrostatics as the only real competition, however these soon fell out of favour. In today's market all major manufacturers offer a Stepless box which will be branded by the manufacturer individually; however most operators will refer to it as a Vario much in the way that most vacuum cleaners are referred to as a Hoover.
Fendt's infinitely variable transmission differs from a continuously variable transmission as an IVT can be travelling at 0.0 km/h whilst the transmission is engaged and not in neutral. The IVT/CVT gearbox is widely regarded as the most fuel efficient gearbox on the agricultural market prompting nearly all other major manufacturers to develop their own system. Manufacturers such as ZF, John Deere and CNH group have also developed very intuitive systems but Fendt's Vario is broadly considered a market leader. Variations can be found on other AGCO tractor brands such Massey Ferguson. The gearbox may be the same however the individual brands have different controls/ joystick and may have different ECU software. The IVT transmissions are extremely popular in the European market and its fuel efficiency puts it in favour of mechanical competitors, however one weakness to the Vario is its power consumption, in comparison to a mechanical transmission, most IVT/CVT gearboxes can lose 10–20 hp in the transmission due to the hydraulic swing pump element of the transmission. The Fendt Vario offers 60 km/h travel speed on its 800 series and 900 series models, this same transmission can also be found in 4000 series JCB tractors. Claas have their own variable transmission sold under its CMatic brand. It use same basic theory as Vario transmission with some enhancement. It's not the same and not similar to Massey Ferguson even though Claas and Massey Ferguson share gearbox and rear axle from GIMA, owned 50/50 by Claas and AGCO.

The Trisix

Fendt released a prototype of a new concept tractor at Agritechnica 2007, in Hannover, Germany, called the Trisix nicknamed "Mobydick" and boasting 540 horsepower and six wheel drive.
The front axle and the rearmost steer the tractor, and as the speed of the tractor increases, the amount of steering input on the rear axle reduces to make it safer. It also completely locks out when in transport mode and with some implements.
To handle the horsepower the Trisix has two of the company's trademark Vario transmissions, which push the machine up to a top speed of 60 km/h. Fendt has not confirmed production of this machine, and it remains in prototype stage. The axles and backbone tube are from Tatra 815 series trucks and the 6x6 Tatra-based tractor concept was patented in 1997 by Farma Josef Dvorak of Tábor, Czech Republic.

Appearances in media

A Fendt 930 Vario was shown on BBC's Top Gear, where host James May chose a 930 Vario. It was driven by The Stig round the Top Gear Test Track, and did a time of 3:28.4, the second slowest time round the track. The Fendt 930 Vario does however report a top speed of 37.5 mph, much faster compared to similar competitor's tractors.
The Fendt 716 also appeared on BBC1 Scotland, on the program Countryfile, where world class Fendt Driver, Steven Brown, of Inverdovet Farm, was awarded an award for winning the annual Scottish Fendt Ploughing Match, where he received a prize of £5,000. He was later disqualified for illicit drug use.
Fendt tractors have appeared in the widely-popular Farming Simulator 2008, Farming Simulator 2009, Farming Simulator 17 and Farming Simulator 19 games.