Fendt

Fendt is a German manufacturer of agricultural tractors and machines, manufacturing and marketing a full line of tractors, combine harvesters and balers. It is part of the AGCO Corporation. It was founded in 1937 by Xaver Fendt and purchased by AGCO in 1997.

Prior to incorporation on December 31, 1937, the Fendt brothers produced several tractors in a blacksmith shop under the guidance of their father, Johann Georg. The tractors built featured a 6 HP engine, a mounted plow, and an independently driven mower.

Fendt offers a range of tractors from 70-500 hp, a range of combine harvesters 220-500 hp, forage equipment including forage wagons, tedders, mowers and rakes badged under the Fendt brand after Fella being acquired by AGCO, Balers formally Heston balers now under the fendt brand since being acquired by AGCO, Forage harvesters 625-850 hp which use Kemper headers, tractor mounted loaders and tractors modified for the municipalities and forestry industries. Forage equipment, balers and combines can be found across most AGCO brands and in general are mechanically identical and are sold under the best performing brand respective to the area.

The Vario transmission was first developed in the 1970s, but due to lack of funding it was never seen on a production tractor until 1996, when Fendt launched the revolutionary Fendt 926 Vario. This was the first ever stepless transmission to be launched in the tractor market, and is patented to be the only truly stepless transmission when it was first developed. Competitors were unable to make a transmission as advanced as a Fendt Vario at the time with hydrostatics as the only real competition, however these soon fell out of favour. In today's market all major manufacturers offer a Stepless box which will be branded by the manufacturer individually; however most operators will refer to it as a Vario much in the way that most vacuum cleaners are referred to as a Hoover.

Fendt's infinitely variable transmission (IVT) differs from a continuously variable transmission (CVT) as an IVT can be travelling at 0.0 km/h whilst the transmission is engaged and not in neutral. The IVT/CVT gearbox is widely regarded as the most fuel efficient gearbox on the agricultural market prompting nearly all other major manufacturers to develop their own system. Manufacturers such as ZF, John Deere and CNH group have also developed very intuitive systems but Fendt's Vario is broadly considered a market leader. Variations can be found on other AGCO tractor brands such Massey Ferguson. The gearbox may be the same however the individual brands have different controls/ joystick and may have different ECU software. The IVT transmissions are extremely popular in the European market and its fuel efficiency puts it in favour of mechanical competitors, however one weakness to the Vario is its power consumption, in comparison to a mechanical transmission, most IVT/CVT gearboxes can lose 10–20 hp in the transmission due to the hydraulic swing pump element of the transmission. The Fendt Vario offers 60 km/h travel speed on its 800 series and 900 series models, this same transmission can also be found in 4000 series JCB tractors. Claas also use the Vario transmission sold under its CMatic brand. Claas use their own control method however it is mechanically identical to that of a Massey Ferguson as Claas use Massey Ferguson transmissions/back end.

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