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GroeNoord bankruptcy a major blow to tractor sales
John Deere sales suffered significantly in the Netherlands last year, according to figures from the Dutch Vehicle Authority (RDW).
In February 2025, importer GroeNoord went bankrupt, which apparently took a heavy toll on the brand's sales in the Netherlands. The other importer, Kraakman, did take over some of the operations, but that didn't prevent a significant drop in sales.
RDW data shows that just over 300 new John Deere tractors were registered on the Dutch market last year. This is barely half the typical number in recent years, when annual sales were around 600 tractors. In 2023, sales were even slightly higher.
Leading in the market
John Deere was the market leader in the Netherlands from 2021 to 2023, selling approximately 600 tractors annually, according to figures from the Fedecom industry association. New Holland was second in that period, with just over 500 tractors. Third on this list is Fendt, with approximately 450 agricultural tractors delivered to end users annually.
Fedecom has not yet published figures per brand for 2024. Data from the RDW (Netherlands Vehicle Authority) indicates that the top three performed almost identically that year. Just under 500 new vehicles of all three brands were registered in the Netherlands in 2024.
The latest figures show that slightly more Fendt tractors entered the Netherlands last year. The number of new registrations for this brand rose to 520 units. John Deere saw a significant decline, partly due to import problems, dropping to 313 units. New Holland also saw a slight decline, remaining at 421 new registrations for agricultural tractors by 2025.
These shifts are also reflected in the total number of new tractors admitted to the Dutch market. The total over the past year remained at just under 2.200 units. This number is 17%, or 450 units, below the average of recent years.
Case IH, Deutz-Fahr and Valtra
Of the brands outside the top three, Case IH, Deutz-Fahr, and Valtra appear to be holding up relatively well. Deutz-Fahr even sees its number of approvals rise slightly to over 200. Claas and Massey-Ferguson, however, are taking a significant step back. Claas's number of new approvals has dropped to 68, 44 fewer than in 2024. MF's number of approvals has fallen by 55 units to 178.
In terms of model variety, Fendt also leads the list this year with a clear lead. There are 93 new Fendt 620 Varios, followed by 74 new Fendt Varios 516s. This is followed by the 314 Vario with 58 units. New Holland, with 50 new registrations, falls just outside the top three with the T6.180 AC. The John Deere 6R 150 has 49 new registrations on the Dutch market. In eighth place is John Deere with the 6120M.
Similar decline
Fedecom has not yet released figures on the number of tractors delivered to end users in 2025. However, figures for the first ten months indicate a similar decline as seen in the initial registration, also around 17%. Based on this, it is likely that the number of new agricultural tractors delivered to end users will remain around 2.100 units. This is 600 fewer than the average over the past ten years. According to Fedecom, 2.531 tractors were delivered in 2024.
John Ramaker
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