CLAAS TRACTORS have arrived in the UK following Claas‘ acquisition of a majority shareholding in Renault Agriculture 18 months ago.

Its tractor range will now be sold in the UK in the German manufacturer‘s green, white and red livery.

But all existing Claas dealers will continue to sell the former Renault range alongside other existing tractor franchises.

“We will not be forcing our dealers to switch allegiance to become exclusive Claas franchises, making them drop other franchises or sell our tractors preferentially,” said Claas UK‘s chief executive Clive Last.

But Mr Last stressed that Claas will make full use of their strong UK dealer network to improve Renault‘s market share.

At present Renault holds a 3.4% share of the UK tractor market.

Painting Renault tractors a different colour is unlikely to be a major factor in boosting sales, he pointed out.

The most important factor in increasing performance will be to provide the tractor range access to a dealer network that already sells over 1000 tractors a year, mainly through Valtra and McCormick franchises.

“We aim to capture an additional 1% share every year with our harvesters – tractors will be no different,” said Trevor Tyrrell, marketing manager at Claas UK.

He stressed that harvesting machinery will remain the core business for Claas.

“We are not a tractor company selling harvesters and never will be. We are a harvesting specialist marketing a tractor range and our priorities will remain that way.”

Claas tractors