News 2009

After a record year in 2008, the worldwide market for agricultural machinery suffered significant declines in some areas. The VDMA (German Engineering Federation) estimates that industry turnover dropped by 25% in 2009. Highly volatile markets for agricultural products along with the worldwide financial crisis and recession created uncertainty in the minds of farmers causing them to hold back on investment. Against this background, the sales of the CLAAS Group declined 10.4% to €2.9 billion. Profit before tax was €112.3 million. Although this was 54.7% below the value from the previous year, this still represents a respectable result within the industry. Furthermore, CLAAS was able to maintain or even improve its market position in important markets.

When it comes to the narrow-track tractors used in fruit and wine growing, farmers have very different requirements. For this purpose, CLAAS has developed the new NEXOS range which not only offers high performance and economy, but also comes with a wide range of equipment options. This way, every farmer can configure his tractor to suit his specific needs.

CLAAS has now added a telescopic loader to its range which meets the growing demand for a powerful, yet compact, machine. The new SCORPION 6030^CP has the right dimensions and power to ideally supplement the model range of telescopic loaders for farm and indoor work.

CLAAS has pooled its range of electronics expertise and given it a new name: Efficient Agriculture Systems” – “EASY” in short – is the generic term as of now used for all computer-assisted systems and programs for agricultural planning and operation.

CLAAS presents its two new XERION 5000 and 4500 models for the first time at the Agritechnica 2009 trade fair. In addition to the two XERION 3800 and 3300 models in the "400 hp and under" class, CLAAS has extended its range of tractors with two new models ranging to over 500 hp.