New Holland Agriculture

The first New Holland plant in New Holland, Pennsylvania

New Holland history is the sum and integration of four agricultural brands that converge and merged: Ford, Fiat Trattori, Claeys, and New Holland.

New Holland was founded in 1895 by Abe Zimmerman[2] in New Holland, Pennsylvania and was producing agricultural products, including a feed mill, to help the farming community around him (see New Holland Machine Company). In 1947, the company changed its name into Sperry New Holland, due to a takeover by the Sperry Rand Corporation. The same year, it made a major breakthrough in hay harvesting technology with the introduction of the haybine mower-conditioner. In 1964, Sperry New Holland bought a major interest in Claeys.

Claeys was founded in 1906 by Leon Claeys, a Belgian mechanic. This firm started to build threshing machines, and in 1909, built a factory in Zedelgem, Belgium, where one of New Holland's plants is still producing harvesting products today. By the 1960s, Claeys was one of the biggest combine manufacturers in Europe.[3]

In 1975, Sperry New Holland introduced the world's first twin-rotor combine, a successful technology that is still used today.

A Ford Tractor Model F, produced since 1917

In 1986, Ford bought Sperry New Holland and formed Ford New Holland Inc.[4]

Before this acquisition, Ford had a long history in agricultural machinery production. In 1907, Ford came out with the prototype for the world's first mass-produced, gasoline-powered tractor, named an ‘automobile plow’. Ten years later, this tractor went into actual production.[5] It was renamed the Fordson Model F, and produced by a new business, Henry Ford & Son Company. In 1939, Ford introduced the Ferguson three-point hitch (three-point linkage) on the 'N' tractor series, a very successful tractor family. In the 1980s, Ford was one of the major players, and its tractor division had been responsible for a number of industry innovations, including the use of power hydraulics, rubber pneumatic tires, diesel engines, and the three-point hitch (This hitch was originally developed by Harry Ferguson, but was in wide use on Ford tractors).[6]

T7 series tractors at a New Holland dealership in Australia

In 1991, Fiat purchased an 80% interest in Ford New Holland.[7] Also Fiat was present in the agriculture machinery industry since the beginning of the 20th century. In 1918, Fiat Model 702 tractor was launched and went into full production a year later[8] at the car and truck plant in Turin, and won the International Ploughing Contest in Senlis (France).[9] Model 702 was the first Fiat agricultural tractor, as well as the first Italian tractor to be built on an industrial scale. In the 1930s, Fiat's founder, Senator Giovanni Agnelli, wanted his tractor to become an integral part of Italy's agriculture, so he began an association with the Italian agricultural co-operatives. The company kept on growing, and by the end of the 1970s, Fiat Trattori had built over a million tractors.[10]

In the 1980s, Fiat acquired Braud, a French company founded in 1870, which introduced the stationary threshers to farmers in Western France in 1895. In 1975, Braud launched his first grape harvester, model 1020. This was further improved with Braud 1014, the best-selling grape harvester in the history of the vineyard, with over 2000 units sold in less than four years.[11]

With the purchase of Ford New Holland, New Holland became a global full-line producer and the integration process was completed at the official launch of the brand at the worldwide convention in Orlando, Florida, in 1996.

Under the ownership of Fiat, New Holland N.V. and Case Corporation merged in 1999, giving birth to CNH. Due to antitrust policies, New Holland had to divest Laverda and the Versatile tractor plant in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.[12]

New Holland TX68 harvesting grain

New Holland T7070 2009.

New Holland T7.210 in England

Following the 1993 purchase, the joint venture signed between the Ford Motor Company and the Mexican Quimmco Group in 1990 was transferred to the New Holland company. In 1999, the name of the company was changed to CNH de México.

New Holland Fiat India Pvt. Ltd., previously New Holland Tractors India (Pvt.) Ltd., was established as a 100% subsidiary of CNH Global NV in 1996. The factory is situated in the Greater Noida area, near New Delhi.[13]

In 1998, New Holland has acquired Bizon, a combine harvester manufacturer based in Płock, Poland. It designed machines for harvesting cereals, rape seed, maize, sunflower seed, and other crops. Bizon held about 60% of the Polish combine harvester market and had begun sales expansion in Latin America, Pakistan, Belarus, and Ukraine.

In 1998, New Holland signed a joint venture with Türk Traktör, a company belonging to the Koç Group, Turkey's largest industrial conglomerate. The factory based in Ankara was already producing Fiat tractors since the previous joint venture with the Fiat Group dated 1967.[14] In 2011, the factory celebrated the production of its 600 thousandth tractor.[15]

Shanghai New Holland Agricultural Machinery Corporation Ltd. was established on January 1, 2002, as a joint venture bringing together CNH and Shanghai Tractor and Internal Combustion Engine Corporation, an industry leader in the Chinese market. Today, it is one of the China's largest joint ventures for agricultural machinery.[16]

Also in 2002, the New Holland TG tractor series was introduced, and featured the unique "Cat's Eye" lighting as dubbed by then Fiat Chairman Paolo Cantarella. The free-form halogen lighting was a first, not only in tractor design, but also actually preceded the use of this type of lighting in automotive design. Virtually every tractor produced after this design has been influenced by the original TG model New Holland. The TG was the first styling effort by New Holland's newly named consulting designers and stylists (Montgomery Design International), which had been the long-time firm of record for IH and CaseIH. A single sketch penned by the owner and principal designer Gregg Montgomery set New Holland's styling direction, which continues today in the complete range of New Holland tractors.

From 2007[17] to 2010,[18] New Holland was the sponsor of Juventus F.C. In the same year, tractor number 500,000 rolls off the Jesi production line in Italy.[19] In Paraná State, Brazil, the first machines are delivered to the Programa Trator Solidário (Solidary Tractor). A white T7050 tractor is presented to the Pope Benedictus XVI.[20]

In 2008, New Holland Fiat India produced the 100,000th tractor at its New Delhi plant,[21] 200,000 combines built in Zedelgem, Belgium and 700,000 small square balers in New Holland, PA, US.[22] The rotary combine model, the CR9090 Elevation, was launched and set a new world record for combine harvesting, recognised by Guinness World Records, with 551.6 tonnes of wheat harvested in 8 hours.[23]

In 2009, New Holland Agricultural presented the world's first hydrogen-powered tractor, the NH2.[24]

In 2010, CNH and KAMAZ had finalized their joint venture agreement that had started the previous year.[25] Following the finalization of the industrial agreement between CNH and OJSC KAMAZ, the newly formed industrial joint venture had started the assembly of the New Holland new tractor models T9060, T9040, and T8050 and the CSX7080 and CSX7060 combine harvesters at its Naberezhnye Chelny plant in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia.[26] In the same year, New Holland celebrated the 150,000th tractor made at its Indian plant at its manufacturing facility in Greater Noida.[27] In Europe, Zedelgem plant celebrated 50 years in the self-propelled forage harvesters sector with the launch of the FR9000 50th Anniversary Limited Edition.[3]

In 2011, TürkTraktör, CNH's joint venture with Koç Holding celebrated the production of its 600,0000th tractor, a New Holland TD 100D. New Holland is a Gold Sponsor of the Climate Action Networking Reception, hosted by Climate Action in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the South African government in Durban.[28]

In 2012, New Holland sponsored the Rio+20 Summit United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.[29] This same year, two new products were added to the CNH-KAMAZ joint venture, the T8.330 tractor and the CX8080 combine.

New Holland is present in 170 countries.[1] The headquarters is situated in New Holland, Pennsylvania USA. New Holland is represented with branches in North America, with offices in United States in New Holland, Pennsylvania and Racine, Wisconsin, in South America in Curitiba, Brazil. In Europe, New Holland covers the main markets with branches in Basildon, UK; Copenhagen, Denmark; Heilbronn, Germany; Madrid, Spain; Modena, Italy; Paris, France; Płock, Poland; St. Valentin, Austria; and Zedelgem, Belgium.

New Holland headquarters for Africa, the Middle East, the Commonwealth of Independent States), Asia, including India and China, and Oceania is based in Lugano, Switzerland, where it is part of CNH International that is responsible for CNH operations in the above-mentioned markets. Operations are covered by hubs based in Istanbul, Turkey; Kyiv, Ukraine; Moscow, Russia; New Delhi, India; Shanghai, China; Sydney, Australia and Tashkent, Uzbekistan, with representative offices in Bangkok, Thailand and Johannesburg, South Africa. In Japan, the company is present with a Commercial joint venture in Sapporo.

New Holland based its production on 22 plants spread in:

New Holland also has a number of importers and dealers in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America. New Holland has over 2,200 dealers and 100 importers.

• New Holland Construction

Wikimedia Commons has media related to New Holland (brand).

• New Holland Website
• CNH Global Corporate Website
• New Holland European Press Kit
• New Holland North America Press Kit
• New Holland NH2 - Hydrogen-powered tractor in an Energy Independent Farm
• New Holland Service Manual Website
• Ricambi New Holland