THE CHANGE

A change of business direction saw Tenneco decide in 1994 to exit the farm and construction equipment businesses by making a public offering of shares in the newly-named Case Corporation, which switched from branding its machines as ‘Case International’ to ‘Case IH’.

The now-independent business went on to expand further, in 1996 purchasing Steyr, an independent Austrian tractor maker with a strong reputation for the quality of its engineering, through which Case IH went on to lead the way in the development of a continuously-variable transmission, the CVX.

In the same year it launched the Quadtrac, a revolutionary reworking of the high-horsepower wheeled articulated tractor design to incorporate four independent rubber track drive units.

In 1999, the Fiat Group, which was looking to grow its worldwide farm equipment business and build on the success of its offering under the New Holland brand, agreed to purchase Case Corporation. The transaction led to the formation of a CNH Global, a new company within the Fiat Group. The New Holland and Case IH brands were retained and, following the forced divestiture of certain factories and product lines to gain approval from competition authorities for the merger, it was decided to adopt a common platform manufacturing approach but retain distinct identities and features for each brand.

In 2016, Case IH was the first agricultural brand to unveil a cabless, fully working autonomous concept tractor, which was able to plant a field autonomously. The development pilot program is currently continuing in partnership with Bolthouse Farms, one of the USA’s largest carrot growers. In 2017 the brand celebrated its 175th Anniversary, and today, Case IH equipment is found on farms worldwide, with a full line of machines under names with legendary reputations, including Farmall, Magnum, Axial-Flow, Steiger and Quadtrac.

Interested in seeing any community investment articles? Download your FREE copy of the RME TRACTION here

Share This Article: