John Deere in global agreement with Wacker Neuson

John Deere has announced an expanded relationship with Wacker Neuson, the German manufacturer of compact and construction machines for compact excavators. The agreement includes North America.

John Deere and Wacker Neuson will collaborate on the development of excavators less than 5 metric-tons, including battery electric excavators, that will be manufactured by Wacker Neuson. Additionally, John Deere will have control of the design, manufacturing, and technology innovation, for the 5-9-metric-ton models, leveraging a solid foundation from Wacker Neuson.

The excavators are to be developed and manufactured in the Wacker Neuson production plants in Menomonee Falls, Wis., and Linz, Austria, according to the requirements of John Deere, primarily for the North American market, and will sold under the John Deere brand through John Deere’s worldwide dealer network. The plan is to gradually complete the product portfolio. Wacker Neuson models in the same product category will continue to be offered under the Wacker Neuson brand via the company’s own sales network.

“Excavators are an integral part of our customers’ jobsites, and we anticipate growing demand to continue,” said Domenic Ruccolo, senior vice president, sales, marketing, and product support, global construction equipment, John Deere. “As we look to the future of our excavator line-up, this agreement will allow us greater flexibility as we continue to deliver a robust product portfolio that prioritizes the operator experience.”

Distribution, parts, service, and support for the new machines will continue through John Deere’s dealer network.

John Deere has extended its collaborative agreement with compact equipment specialist Wacker Neuson. Photo: John Deere

“We’re excited about the expanded agreement as it supports our goal of bringing productivity-driven features and industry leading technology to customers with greater agility,” said Jerred Pauwels, vice president, excavators, strategy and business development, John Deere. “Through this relationship, we’ll innovate faster, and offer additional features and performance differentiation for our customers.”

The Wacker Neuson Group is an international group of companies headquartered in Munich, Germany, employing around 6000 people worldwide. The company is known for compact equipment.

“We are very pleased to add another building block to our growth strategy with the OEM cooperation with John Deere for mini and compact excavators. We have had a long and successful working relationship with John Deere, both in agriculture and in the construction industry,” said Dr. Karl Tragl, chairman and CEO of Wacker Neuson Group. “The combination of our excellent products and manufacturing expertise with John Deere’s established market access in North America opens up excellent business opportunities for us in the attractive market segment of mini and compact excavators,”

“The agreement with John Deere perfectly complements our growth strategy in Americas,” said Gert Reichetseder, president and CEO North America at Wacker Neuson. “We already offer our customers excellent products under the Wacker Neuson brand and will continue to focus strongly on expanding our product range for the North American market. In addition, the cooperation with John Deere opens up additional sales channels for our powerful mini and compact excavators.”

Wacker Neuson has built Deere-branded compact excavator models up to 7.5 tons since 2018 in a program that was initially focused on the Asia-Pacific market.