What was behind the surprising Deere-Hitachi excavator split announced in August? What will this mean for Deere customers of both brands?
PRuccoloJohn Deere
"From a customer-support standpoint, I think the best way to put it is that there will be no change," Ruccolo says. Irrespective of brand, Deere dealers will continue to support everything they have sold over the years "indefinitely," he says.
"There's no question that we had a very successful partnership with Hitachi throughout the Americas for more than 30 years," Ruccolo says. But times have changed, and "it was the right time for both of us to make this change," he says. "Where we are really going our separate ways is on the marketing and product support side."
After Feb. 28th, Hitachi Construction Machinery Americas will take over distribution and sale of its excavators. Hitachi plans to manufacture all of its excavators in Japan and import them to the North and South American markets. All manufacturing plants in the joint venture will remain with Deere post-split. This includes its flagship manufacturing facility in Kernersville, North Carolina, as well as plants in Brazil and British Columbia.
That doesn't mean all has ended between the two companies, however. "We're going to continue to have a strong relationship with Hitachi for years to come through our continuing supply agreement with them," Ruccolo says.
Hitachi plants in Japan, for instance, will still make its above 47-metric-ton models, the 670G and 870G, and its 190G wheeled excavator.