AGCO HAS revealed a multi-brand flagship combine as first common platform development for both its Massey Ferguson and Fendt brands.

It unveiled a new top-of-the-range combine which represents its first machine of any type developed from scratch on a common platform. The three-model Ideal combine line-up will be built in Hesston, Kansas, in Canoas, Brazil, and – for the European market – in Breganze, Italy.

It will be available in the UK as either a Massey Ferguson or Fendt product. In a first for the company, only the badging will change, with a new neutral ‘graphite’ livery being adopted for the new range.

AGCO is claiming a series of records for the largest model – the biggest grain tank on the market, at 17,100 litres; the fastest unloading rate, at 210 litres/sec; plus the largest threshing area, which it says is 31% bigger than anything else currently available.

Inside the combines will be a single rotor in the 451hp AGCO Power-engined model, the Ideal 7, and twin rotors in the Ideal 8 and Ideal 9, which are powered by MAN 538hp and 647hp engines. In a move away from the hybrid technology in MF Delta combines, there is no drum and concave – up front is a beater to feed the leading impeller element of the rotor(s).

Each 4.8m rotor features a series of rasp bar sections followed by ‘dual helix’ fingers to separate grain from straw. Up front, standard or Powerflow cutterbars are available in widths up to 12.2m.

AGCO has also developed a from-the-cab coupling system that automatically engages all mechanical, hydraulic and electrical connections to the header. The cab has been developed from the frame already seen on the latest D-series RoGator self-propelled sprayers.

On 800 front tyres, or 660mm tracks – the latter an in-house development – the machines have a 3.3m transport width, although wider tyres and tracks are available. Both wheeled and tracked versions are capable of 40km/hr (25mph).

* More will be revealed in our forthcoming 'Combine special' in the edition out on October 21.