Plans are being laid for the launch of a new AGCO Power engine family by the end of next year now that the powertrain operation’s headquarters unit in Finland has completed a two-year programme of investments worth more than £86m.

The engines – likely to be produced in three, four and six-cylinder inline formats as now – are expected to provide power and torque for all Massey Ferguson and Valtra tractors in future, as well as some Fendt models. They will also be available to OEM customers for tractors, telehandlers, wheeled loaders, and so on.

At AGCO Power’s Linnavuori plant located 125 miles north of Helsinki, in southern Finland, a logistics centre to handle components either bought in or machined on site and an expanded assembly plant with new production technologies are said to have been constructed in record time.

AGCO Power CEO Juha Tervala, said: “Despite a tight schedule and the global Covid-19 pandemic, the investment project has progressed as planned, with the investments enabling a more efficient and streamlined production process, and upgrades such as the automated logistics centre and state-of-the-art robotics, supporting improved quality, cleanliness and work ergonomics.”

Part of the investment covered a multi-million euro overhaul of the Linnavuori factory’s machining line, which is now fully automated and enables flexible manufacturing of components in-house, reducing costs and increasing control over the production process. “The successful completion of the project makes AGCO Power’s position in the global powertrain market better than ever,” said Mr Tervala.

The former Sisu operation – acquired when AGCO bought Valtra tractors in 2003 – operates globally, manufacturing engines at four plants, in Argentina and Brazil for the South American market, in China and in Finland, with total capacity of more than 100,000 engines per year.

No details have been released of the new engine family being developed except that its launch can be expected before the end of 2022 to coincide with the company’s 80-year anniversary. But they will presumably replace the current line of 3.3 to 8.4-litre three, four and six-cylinder units installed in Valtra tractors built in AGCO’s Suolahti plant 140 miles to the north-east and the new A Series assembled in China.

They will also power MF models built in the Beauvais plant in northern France, while smaller Fendt tractors built in Marktoberdorf, southern Germany will also likely get the new AGCO Power engines – as potentially will some of the larger machines which are currently powered by Deutz and MAN diesels.

Other applications include AGCO’s Fendt and Massey Ferguson combines, but whether there will be like-for-like replacements for the novel 9.8-litre seven-cylinder and 16.8-litre V12 diesels remains to be seen. Only the smaller unit is used – in one Ideal combine model and the four Fendt 900 Vario MT tracklayers – as the more powerful 1100 Vario MT tractors have now switched to a big volume MAN.

Although the current engines are compliant with US Tier 4 Final and the more stringent Euro Stage V emissions rules, AGCO Power’s engineers will be looking to simplify, improve the packaging and increase the efficiency of the emissions control technologies used. They will also be working to achieve greater power density as part of a general ‘downsizing’ trend to improve fuel economy and lower running costs overall.