I was saddened to hear about Hanlon Machinery loosing its John Deere dealership. The surprise announcement was made by the County Louth dealer on July 13. Hanlon Machinery have been John Deere dealers since Michael Hanlon founded the business 42 years ago in 1981. The franchise with John Deere will come to an end on 31 October 2023.
Michael issued a statement to his customers saying “We have been advised we will no longer be part of the John Deere family and our 42-year John Deere franchise will end 31 October 2023”. Michael and his staff are still shocked of the sudden announcement.
A spokesperson from John Deere told Service Dealer Ireland that they cannot comment on individual dealer arrangements as it is John Deere’s policy not to. It remains to be seen what dealer will serve Hanlon Machinery’s customer area. Earlier this year, Johnston Gilpin & Co Ltd’s John Deere dealership of 54 years in County Antrim was acquired by County Derry based dealer Stephen W Moore.
This dealership structure by John Deere is happening worldwide. The reduction of John Deere dealerships, is part of their ‘Dealer of Tomorrow’ strategy, which sees a global consolidation of their dealer networks.
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Looking towards Europe, CEMA, the European Agricultural Machinery Association, recently released their July market trend of tractor sales for Europe. It reports that business has reached recession. The trend is continuing to drop and, for the first time since September 2020, the trend is in negative territory. CEMA use an index scale of -100 to +100 and the July trend is at -7 (from +1 the previous month). Their statistics are taken from nine European countries, which doesn’t include Ireland, as we are not members of CEMA. Here is an excerpt from the report which states the reasons for the drop in trend.
“While the manufacturers' supply side has eased further, uncertainties with regard to the market side continue to increase. The direct customers of the manufacturers - the dealers, are apparently not able to pass on their numerous orders to the end customers and have thus slid directly from undersupply to record-high oversupply. According to the survey, the dealer stocks are now in many European markets already higher than in the year 2019, which went down in history due to high dealer stock levels. Consequently, the current order intake of manufacturers is dropping significantly, especially from Europe, and industry representatives have further downgraded their future expectations.”
The trend in Ireland, however, is the complete opposite. Figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that 1438 new tractors were licensed during the first six months of 2023. This compares to 1307 for the same period in 2022, resulting in a 10% increase.
The sale of second hand tractors from January to June this year is also up, showing a figure of 1385. This compares to 1246 for the same period in 2022, which is also a 10% increase.
Looking to the future, how will the 2024 figures compare? Sentiment in Europe seems to be pessimistic. As for Ireland, it will take a brave person to predict what will happen.
