Daedong Targets Medium and Large Tractors, Aiming for 7x Increase in European Sales Within 5 Years

October 30-31, 2023 KaioTi Europe Distributor Conference Held in Delft, Netherlands

Daedong has officially launched efforts to establish Europe as its second key market. Daedong (co-CEOs Kim Junsik and Won Yuhyun) announced on the 5th that it held the '2023 Kioti Europe Distributor Conference' under the theme 'Shifting gear' in Delft, Netherlands, attended by over 50 distributor representatives from 20 European countries.

Daedong conveyed its vision at this event to strengthen its European business focus from small and medium-sized tractors (20-60 horsepower) to medium and large tractors (61 horsepower and above), and to promote new businesses, aiming to achieve a quantum leap in European subsidiary sales from 73 billion KRW this year to 140 billion KRW in 2024, and 500 billion KRW by 2028.

Since establishing its European subsidiary in Rotterdam, Netherlands in 2010, Daedong has operated through a distributor system in 24 European countries excluding Germany, where it conducts direct sales. In Europe, small and medium-sized tractors are mainly used for urban landscaping and road maintenance. Daedong, which developed its European business with competitive small and medium-sized tractors, achieved an average market share of 7.2% last year in eight major sales countries.

On the 31st of last month, representatives of distributors are examining products launched in Europe at the outdoor exhibition venue of the Daedong distributor conference.

In the European tractor market, which has an annual volume of about 180,000 units, products over 60 horsepower account for about 70% and are mainly used for agricultural purposes. To secure the domestic large tractor market and expand its global business, Daedong introduced the HX series tractors with 100-140 horsepower domestically to enhance its technology and lineup. Last year, Daedong conducted local field tests of the HX tractors in Europe and began pilot sales earlier this year.

Regarding the medium and large tractor business, Daedong plans to strengthen its product lineup by launching a fully redesigned new RX tractor (60-80 horsepower) and a premium model of the HX tractor in the first quarter of next year. Previously, the highest horsepower model Daedong sold in Europe was in the 120 horsepower range, and this will be the first time it releases tractors in the 130-140 horsepower range. Along with this, Daedong will enhance support for capable distributors to create successful medium and large tractor business cases in multiple countries in 2024.

Through this, Daedong’s European subsidiary aims to grow medium and large tractor sales in the European market by 120% in 2024 compared to this year. In the mid to long term, it plans to increase the share of medium and large tractor sales in the European subsidiary’s total sales from the current 20% range to 50% by 2028.

As a new business, Daedong plans to introduce the gardening robot 'Robot Mower' to the European market next year. The Robot Mower is equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) autonomous driving capabilities, allowing it to freely move and mow within designated weeding areas. Compared to North America, where residential areas are larger, the smaller housing areas in Europe make it easy and convenient to manage gardens or yards, making it highly favored.

Daedong Europe CEO Kang Seunggu said, "We have laid the foundation of our European business by focusing on small and medium-sized tractors, and now, through strategic and focused investments, we will build strong business competitiveness in medium and large tractors to write another growth story." He added, "We will make Europe the forward base for Daedong Group’s existing and future businesses and achieve a quantum leap of 500 billion KRW in sales by 2028."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.