Kubota

Kubota has announced plans to increase production capacity for Kubota equipment in the U.S. by building a new manufacturing plant and expanding its existing operations in Gainesville, Ga.

The company’s expansion plans come on the heels of KTC’s recent announcement that it will relocate its U.S. headquarters to Grapevine, Texas, in an effort to get closer to its major markets and customers.

The all-terrain vehicle market is big and getting bigger—attracting at least one new manufacturer a year. But when I saw that Kubota was building an ATV (the company calls it an RTV) I wondered if someone wasn’t casting their bait into the wrong pool.Granted that utility versions of most ATVs have emerged as the dominant design (rather than the two-wheel drive sport type) but what does a tractor builder know about an ATV? Apparently, quite lot.

I recently had an RTV 900 out working on my property in northern Ontario and that experience left me with some definite impressions on the machine that Kubota figures is going to make inroads for them in this lucrative market.

First, though, I have to state the obvious. At 1,800 pounds and five feet wide, the RTV doesn’t fit in the bed of your pickup. It’s also too big for a conventional snowmobile trailer and with the side by side seating for three, it doesn’t navigate normal ATV trails very well.