As of May 1, 2019, RDO Equipment and AFGRI Equipment officially took over as the John Deere Construction and Forestry dealers in Australia. Partnering with RDO Equipment, John Deere showcased their construction machinery at the Diesel Dirt and Turf expo from May 3-5, using the expo to mark the launch of their full product range in Australia. All machines in the range will be available for purchase by early next year.
Jeff Craft, Managing Director for John Deere Asia Pacific & Africa, spoke of their excitement and the opportunities this will bring to the Australian market.
“Today’s an exciting day for John Deere and Australia. When you look at our slogan ‘A New Day, A New John Deere’ it couldn’t be a more appropriate time for us to formally announce our new partnership with RDO who will be our dealer for Australia outside WA.”
“We needed to choose the right partner. We looked across the market segment and settled on RDO and AFGRI. These 2 dealerships will not only deliver [excellent service] but also have a culture that we’re looking for. That is, focusing on the needs of the customer and looking at how we work together to provide those solutions to the customer.”
Mark Khun, RDO Equipment’s General Manager of Sales, John Deere Construction & Forestry Australia, says this is an exciting time for Australian customers.
“One big change really for Australia is RDO will bring the full John Deere Construction product line here to Australia. So not only will we have the graders and wheel loaders, we’ll also have the John Deere excavators which are in Australia for the first time.”
On display at the RDO Equipment DDT site were John Deere graders, backhoes and—a first for Australia—John Deere excavators.
“Today we are launching the full product line in Australia, including excavators. We have [here] an E210 and an E360, which are the first John Deere excavators to be shown in Australia. These are true John Deere designed and built excavators by John Deere engineers,” says Mark.
“We will also carry the full line of John Deere attachments that go with their machinery.” Mark adds.
And John Deere are just as excited to deliver premium construction machinery with RDO Equipment and AFGRI Equipment.
“One thing you’re going to see different from John Deere is that we now have a construction and forestry parts distribution centre that is coming online right now in Melbourne. We are adding tens of thousands of construction and forestry specific parts to that warehouse facility to give customers better availability,” says Jeff.
“The other things you’ll see is the expansion of our John Deere field team, we’ve already put a few pieces in place so we can understand the Australian market and customer needs better. We are also offering an expansion in product. We are a full line premium manufacturer of construction products and will be a one-stop shop for the contractors in the marketplace for excavator needs, grader needs, 4WD loader needs, compact loader needs… we’ll be able to service their needs across the product spectrum.”
RDO will offer Australian John Deere customers an initial 8 dealership sites, mostly using existing world-class Vermeer facilities. Available now are backhoes, motor graders, wheel loaders and the full forestry line (including log loaders, forwarders, harvesters, feller bunchers and grapple skidders), with several new product lines to come.
| Net Power (HP) | Operating Weight Range (kg) | Capacity Range (m3) | Dig Depth (m) | Rated Payload (kg) | |
| Excavators | 106 – 318 | 13,500 – 40,700 | – | – | – |
| Dozers | 80 – 350 | 7959 – 43,100 | – | – | – |
| Loaders | 152 – 380 | – | 1.9 – 7.5 | – | – |
| Loader / Waste Handlers | 188 -192 | – | 2.7 – 4.0 | – | – |
| Aggregate Handlers | 401 | – | 7.1-7.5 | – | – |
| Compact Track Loaders | 65 – 100 | 965 – 1680 | – | – | – |
| Skid Steer | 48 – 100 | 704 – 1634 | – | – | – |
| Backhoe Loaders | 100 | – | – | 4.17 – 4.34 | – |
| Motor Graders – T3 | 145 – 300 | 17,509 – 20,443 | – | – | – |
| Motor Graders – T4 | 150 – 300 | 18,302 – 21,187 | – | – | – |
| Dump Trucks – T3/T4 | 321 – 481 | – | 15 – 25.5 | – | 24,192 – 41,819 |
| Net Power Range (HP) | |
| Swing Machines | 164 – 271 |
| Swing Log Loaders | 164 – 271 |
| Swing Processors | 164 – 271 |
| Swing Forwarders | 220 – 249 |
| Wheeled Harvesters | 255 |
| Grapple Skidders | 210 – 300 |
| Tracked Harvesters | 300 – 330 |
| Feller Bunchers | 300 – 330 |
Specs sourced from RDO Equipment’s John Deere Oceania Equipment Fleet document supplied to Machines4U.
It seems the launch of John Deere Construction and Forestry machines is just the beginning for RDO Equipment.
“RDO has a long-standing connection with John Deere and is truly delighted to be partnering with them here in Australia. RDO equipment has been in Australia for 6 years. We are fairly familiar with the industry is why we want to take the John Deere Construction line on. And are fortunate enough for John Deere to give us the opportunity,” says Mark.
“We want to thank all current John Deere owners. It will be challenging as we scale up but we are here to support our customers for years to come.”
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