Fendt has spent years building a larger presence in North America. Now, AGCO is putting some numbers behind just how serious that effort has become.

Over the past five years, AGCO has invested approximately $85 million in Fendt’s North American dealer network, according to Farm Equipment. The brand now has 75 dealer groups representing 275 locations, with dealers covering roughly 80% of the continent’s large-ag territory.

Those numbers help put Fendt’s recent string of North American equipment launches into perspective. AGCO is bringing more Fendt equipment to the market while building the sales, parts and service infrastructure needed to compete for a larger share of North American agriculture.

Building the Network Behind the Equipment

Fendt tractors have been sold in North America for decades, but AGCO has accelerated its expansion of the brand considerably in recent years. Stefan Caspari, AGCO senior vice president of customer success and North American ag, discussed the company’s strategy during a Farm Progress Show press conference, where he said the network is continuing to grow.

At the same time, AGCO doesn’t believe simply building more traditional dealerships is the answer.

“We don’t believe that we will win with brick and mortar,” Caspari said.

Traditional dealerships require significant investment from dealers and still require farmers to travel to the dealership. Instead, AGCO wants Fendt dealers to establish more points where farmers can access parts and service, including parts locations, drop boxes and mobile service trucks.

According to Caspari, the company’s plan calls for roughly three times as many of these customer touch points as physical dealer locations. AGCO also requires its dealers to invest in on-farm service capabilities.

“So service trucks…have a crane, they have all the equipment that you need in order to service or repair a machine,” Caspari explained. “It’s basically a dealership on wheels.”

That approach addresses one of the biggest hurdles any equipment manufacturer faces when trying to take market share from established brands. A high-horsepower tractor, combine or planter can represent an investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and farmers need confidence that parts and technicians will be available when something breaks during planting or harvest.

Bringing More of the Dealership to the Farm

The strategy is part of AGCO’s FarmerCore initiative, an end-to-end distribution model built around on-farm service, broader network coverage and digital customer engagement. The goal is to bring more of the dealership experience directly to farmers rather than requiring every interaction to happen at a traditional store.

AGCO says there are already measurable differences between dealers that have embraced the model and those that haven’t. According to Caspari, dealers applying FarmerCore have a net promoter score 4.5 points higher than other dealers and have achieved approximately 1.5% better market share in their territories.

For farmers, however, the success of the strategy will likely come down to something much more practical. A parts drop closer to the farm or a technician arriving in a properly equipped service truck could matter considerably more during harvest than another showroom several towns away.

Fendt’s North American Product Line Is Growing Too

The dealer investment comes as Fendt continues expanding the equipment it offers North American farmers.

At the 2026 Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa, Fendt introduced the new 1100 Vario MT Gen2 track tractor, its 80-foot Momentum planter and the 300 Vario Gen5 tractor. The event also marked Fendt’s first global tractor launch held in the United States, a notable choice for a brand with deep European roots.

The 1100 Vario MT Gen2 pushes Fendt further into the high-horsepower segment that is particularly important to large North American farms, while the expanded Momentum lineup gives the company another way to compete for acres beyond tractors. Those launches make the continued expansion of the dealer and service network increasingly important. Selling more machines only works over the long term if the company can support them after they leave the dealership.

AGCO has been making infrastructure investments alongside those product introductions. In August, the company opened a new 115,000-square-foot parts distribution center in Visalia, California, more than doubling its West Coast parts capacity. The facility supports AGCO’s broader portfolio, but the company specifically identified Fendt’s expansion as one reason additional capacity was needed.

Together, those investments show AGCO building the infrastructure around Fendt at the same time it expands the equipment lineup available to North American farmers.

Challenging an Entrenched Dealer Landscape

Breaking into the North American large-ag market isn’t easy. John Deere and Case IH have spent generations building extensive dealer networks across major farming regions, creating relationships between farmers, salespeople, technicians and parts departments that can last decades.

For a competing brand, convincing a farmer that its tractor or combine performs well is only part of the challenge. The company also has to demonstrate that it will be there when that machine needs a part or repair at the height of the season.

Fendt has been working on that problem for years. In 2019, AGCO reported that Fendt dealers were present in 37 of the 54 U.S. states and Canadian provinces it classified as large-ag markets, representing about 69% coverage. The company’s latest figures put coverage at approximately 80%, with 75 dealer groups and 275 locations.

AGCO says the FarmerCore strategy is designed to extend that reach considerably further without requiring a full dealership everywhere Fendt wants to sell equipment. Parts locations, drop boxes and mobile technicians can effectively expand a dealer’s territory while giving farmers more ways to get support.

Fendt Is Making a Bigger Bet on North America

Fendt remains much smaller in North America than the brands that have historically dominated the large-ag equipment market, and adding dealer coverage doesn’t guarantee farmers will switch brands. But an $85 million investment makes AGCO’s ambitions increasingly difficult to overlook.

The company now has 275 Fendt locations covering approximately 80% of North America’s large-ag territory, while its strategy calls for many more parts and service touch points beyond those dealerships. At the same time, Fendt is expanding its lineup of tractors, planters and other equipment specifically suited to large North American farms.

Caspari’s description of a mobile service truck as a “dealership on wheels” may ultimately be one of the better summaries of the strategy. AGCO isn’t trying to match its larger competitors dealership-for-dealership. It is attempting to give Fendt customers access to parts and service across a much larger footprint without depending exclusively on traditional stores.

For a brand once viewed largely as a premium European tractor manufacturer, the scale of the investment shows how much its North American ambitions have grown. AGCO has spent the past several years putting the equipment, dealers, parts and service infrastructure in place. The next test is whether that investment translates into a larger share of North American farms.