Deere, Hitachi to dissolve 33-year joint excavator venture

John Deere and Hitachi are dissolving their joint venture of more than 30 years for manufacturing excavators in North and South America.

After February 28, 2022, Hitachi Construction Machinery Americas will stand on its own for distribution and sales of its brand excavators on the two continents. Hitachi plans to manufacture all of its excavators, as well as its wheel loaders and mining equipment, in Japan, and then import them to the North and South American markets.

HCMA also plans to introduce new equipment to the markets, which the company says will have 鈥渃utting-edge technologies that increase efficiency and safety while lowering total cost of ownership.鈥 Those technologies include advanced hydraulic and safety systems, 鈥渋nternet of things鈥 services and telematics.

The two companies own a joint plant in Kernersville, N.C., where Deere and Hitachi hydraulic excavators of 13 to 47 metric tonnes are produced. They also own plants in British Columbia, Canada, and Brazil.

Deere says it will purchase all of the joint-venture factories and continue to produce Deere branded excavators there. And it will continue to offer its excavators through a supply agreement with Hitachi, subject to regulatory and other customary approvals.

Deere will also acquire the intellectual property license to continue manufacturing Deere-branded models indefinitely, according to the company鈥檚 third-quarter financial report presentation released Friday. Deere will enter a 鈥渓ong-term supply agreement with Hitachi to source and manufacture the current products at existing locations,鈥 the presentation says.