At last month’s Agritechnica show (in Germany), AgriLand spoke to Francesco Quaranta (vice-president of the Sales & Marketing division – Massey Ferguson Europe & Middle East).

In this video (below – shot by AgriLand’s own Kevin Farrell), he firstly told us about Massey Ferguson’s ‘NEXT’ concept tractor – a prototype that has attracted considerable attention.

Also Read: Will the replacement for MF’s 7700 S series look like this…late next year?

Francesco explained: “This tractor is making two big statements.

The first statement is [that] we are introducing the new style – what you will see coming from Massey Ferguson in the years to come, when it comes to tractor architecture and tractor styling.

“That’s the first statement.

“This is, at the moment, only a concept tractor; there is nothing more than that – so you still have the [current/existing] ranges coming up in the marketplace.”

He continued: “The second important item is the user interface. We are studying very hard how to make working these highly-advanced tractors affordable, but also very easy to use.”

Francesco also talked (in the video) about the ‘NEXT Edition’ tractors – special-edition versions (pictured below) of current models that are available now (unlike the concept tractor – mentioned above).

He explained: “With the ‘NEXT Edition’ what we have done is we have pulled together all the most-sold options for these two very popular tractor ranges – the MF 7700 S and the MF 5700 S.

“We have looked – market-by-market – at what was wanted most by customers; and embarked on that…to give the best possible value for customers.

“We have bundled all the most popular [options], coupled with a very nice, attractive financial tool – so that people can access technology but still we can make it affordable.”

He added: “The reason why we wanted to have them with this ‘limited’ black or red is because this is a limited-edition – first-come-first-served.

Each tractor will have a plaque with its serial number. In the future, these tractors will be more valuable because they will be ‘limited-edition’ models. I think they look quite unique and attractive.

Francesco went on (in the video) to talk specifically about the tractor market in Ireland – saying: “In Ireland, it’s going very, very well.

“I’m proud of Ireland. Ireland is the biggest [percentage] market share for Massey Ferguson in Europe. I look forward to the close of this year because [the figures] may give us a very pleasant surprise!”