Landini has rarely been noted as one of the major players in the Irish market, although it has never lingered at the bottom of the sales charts either.
Like many a machinery manufacturer in Italy, it grew from a humble blacksmith’s shop to become a top brand at home, with varying degrees of success elsewhere.
The company’s current image is one of being worthy, but perhaps a little dull. A budget ‘stockman tractor’ occupying a niche between Eastern European models and the larger western brands.
This, however is now set to change thanks to a large investment made over the past few years in both the product and the team marketing the tractors.
Heading up the UK and Irish operation is Ben Agar, formally of AGCO, who now brings a good deal of experience and, just as importantly, enthusiasm to the task of emerging from the backwaters and entering the mainstream.
This will be no simple task as he readily concedes that the competition is tough, but, he also feels that with the full backing of the company owners, just four members of the Morra family, it is certainly not impossible and he and his colleagues are obviously relishing the challenge.
New start
To kick off this new drive into the Irish market the company held a couple of open days at Paul Flynn & Sons farm near Swords, Co. Meath (see video below).
The choice of a large tillage unit in the east of the country was no accident, as Landini had brought along a large tillage tractor aimed precisely at this sort of grower.
The tractor in question was a new Landini 7-210 with CVT, or ‘V-Shift’ as this particular transmission is referred to by the company. In the 7-210, it is rated at 194hp rising to 210hp with boost.
It is the smallest of the new 7 Series with the other two members offering 225hp and 240hp from the same six-pot FPT block, just the sort of tractors that medium to large-sized tillage farms are looking to purchase.
Attention to appearance
To emphasise the dynamic new approach to selling its tractors to a broader range of customers, Landini has brought in a stylist from the automotive world.
The result is remodelled bodywork to give a much sharper look to replace the rounded and more passive appearance of the previous range.
The new shape is also required to accommodate the five different radiators situated beneath it.
These are for the main engine coolant, the turbo intercooler, air conditioning, oil cooler and fuel cooler. All may be cleaned easily thanks to them being mounted on an expanding frame, which is easily operated with one hand lever.
Getting up into the seat is via a glass door which makes up the whole of the right hand side of the cab.
Its opening width is limited to stop it catching on pillars or buildings, but that does not detract from the ease of entry into the operating area.
Visibility is a major priority for the company when designing their own cabs and once inside, it feels bigger than it actually looks from the outside.
Landini prefers to keep cab manufacture in-house, so eliminating the possibility of having to compromise the design of a tractor to fit a third-party unit.
Harmonising engine and transmission
Although Landini does make its own CVT transmissions for its smaller tractors, the 7 Series are fitted with a ZF unit, along with a ZF final drive and rear axle.
Successfully matching this to the FPT engine is a task that falls to software engineers and Ben Agar is confident they have got it right.
The CVT has four ranges with most field work being done in the third.
The system is constantly seeking the most efficient balance of speed, power and fuel efficiency, and in this small test it appeared to be working well, coasting along the softer ground and happily digging in when it encountered tougher patches.
This flexibility, the availability of torque and power at lower revs, is one of the main reasons the FPT engine was chosen to power the medium to high horse power tractors.
At work with the Landini
Discing is a simple job so setting the various controls up is not an onerous task, just two buttons dedicated to lifting and lowering the implement.
Suffice to say that should an operator be gifted with ambition enough to customise every aspect of the most complicated field work, then they have plenty of scope to do so.
Other than the engine performance already mentioned, the ride from the sprung front axle was comfortable, without isolating the driver too much from the tractor’s behaviour.
Understeer at the first headland, induced by a novice operator, was easily identified and corrected and at no time did it feel like there was any lack of control.
Overall impression
Landini has set itself the challenge of shedding its dowager image and now wants to muscle its way into the big boys game.
Is the new 7 Series going to take them there? On this brief introduction there was no clear reason why it should not.
It is a tractor that immedietly struck as being competently designed and assembled.
There is nothing shoddy or ‘downmarket’ in the build; it all seemed well put together and up to the task with the major components coming from well respected sources.
However, it is a truism that a tractor is only as good as the support it receives in the field.
Landini is acutely aware that it needs to bring the dealership network up to a level that can provide the back-up for ever more sophisticated machines.
This is a process which is already underway, but rather than taking the corporate approach of a just a few major mega dealers, the company is seeking to support and encourage family businesses, for it is still one itself.
As for moving farmers and contractors away from larger brands, it is worth noting that this tractor was actually sold to one of the first customers it was given to on demo.
The gentleman concerned flatly refused to give it back, proffering them a cheque instead.