At this year's Agritechnica machinery trade show in Germany, New Holland had on its stand a concept tractor, named the Il Trattori, which stood out for its novelty and appeal.

Rather than look forward to some undefined future era where autonomous tractors rule the fields and the famer sits at the hub of a multitude of satellites implementing a theoretical plan of action based on a raft of data, the company styled a modern day machine in the form of a much earlier Fiat tractor.

Back to the start

Indeed, the styling clues suggest that the CNH designers stretched right back to 1917 and the launch of the Fiat 702, the first tractor produced by the company.

This model was manufactured alongside cars and trucks in Fiat's Turin factory, and it used for the time an advanced unit construction, with the engine being borrowed from Fiat's 3.5t trucks.

This motor was a four-cylinder 6.2L petrol engine producing 30hp, or 25hp if running on paraffin.

It was a big machine and cost five times the price of Fordson in Britain. Fast forward 108 years and a FPT diesel of 6.7L can offer more than 10 times as much power in an off-road application, as seen in both the latest JCB and Deutz Fahr models.

What lies underneath?

There was no indication of which model this concept had been built around, yet the the explanation given was that it had 118hp and a 24X24 Dual Command powershift.

Presently, according to New Holland's Irish website, the company does not offer a tractor of that power, for it falls between the T5 110 of 110hp and the T6 145 of 125hp.

This is a noticeable gap and it may be that even though this concept model is dressed from the past, the company is flagging its intention to fill the hole.