Challenger recognition for challenging convention – DLV milestone award

Challenger has been awarded the Milestone 2013 award by the German media group DLV in recognition of the way in which its innovative machinery has changed the way that farming is carried out.

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The Milestone Award celebrates pioneering machinery developments and DLV’s  programme will honour Challenger achievements in print and online publications as well as with a special event at Agritechnica 2013. Challenger will present the original 65 tracked tractor as part of the Milestones exhibition in Hall 7 at Europe’s largest agricultural exhibition, held in Hannover from 10-16^th November.

Milestones in Agricultural Engineering are considered to be pioneering technological development steps in the history of mechanisation, whether complex machines or individual components.

Challenger fits this bill exactly with the only tractor designed for tracks rather than adapted from a standard wheeled tractor, and remains the global leader and pioneer in this field.

With the introduction of the Challenger tracked tractors in 1986, construction industry giant Caterpillar sparked a revolution in tractor design.

Today, Challenger is under the umbrella of established global machinery design, manufacture and distribution leader AGCO. Accordingly, Challenger’s tracked tractors also lead when it comes to low slippage and minimal soil compaction.

Caterpillar engineers started to develop a four-wheel drive articulated farm tractor but soon realised that a better solution was an agricultural tractor that utilised their track expertise.  New ideas and solutions were required to achieve efficient transfer of traction coupled with low soil compaction giving the most efficient traction.

This was realised at the end of 1986:  the Challenger 65 was powered by a 270hp engine and fitted with the Differential Steering System and Mobil-Trac^TM system. The following year the tractor was launched worldwide.

In 1993 there was a significant model change with a new design and more power. New row crop models, the Challenger 35, Challenger 45 and Challenger 55 were launched along with the flagship model Challenger 95E which had a massive 410 hp.

The Challenger- product line was purchased by AGCO from the Caterpillar group in 2002. In 2003 two completely new generations, the MT700 and MT800 were developed. This was the first Challenger with more than 500hp and the range also offered a maximum speed of 40kph.

Just two years later revised models the MT700B and MT800B were launched by AGCO and the new articulated MT900B series completed the product range.

In 2007, Challenger showed its mettle in the toughest of conditions. In Romania a Challenger MT875B with a Gregoire Besson XXL 14m disc cultivator tilled 644ha in just 24 hours 644 ha. In the same year MT765B tractors assisted in building a new research station for the British Antarctic Survey and withstood temperatures down to minus 50 degrees.

Challenger celebrated its 25^th Anniversary in 2011 with the special edition MT800C Field Python.

 In 2012 the MT700D range was launched at the first time with AGCO- POWER engines, offering the very latest in engine technology and allowing AGCO to develop its own engine solutions to suit its specialised and highly efficient machines.

Innovation continues apace and in 2013 the new MT700E and MT800E tracked tractors with seven and 12 cylinder engines from AGCO POWER^TM and maximum power of 637hp are producing previously unknown dimensions of performance.

“Challenger is extremely proud to receive the Milestone 2013 award from DLV, which recognises the impact of our innovative machinery on the farming industry.  We are fully committed to developing still further the cutting edge Challenger technology that has given farmers across the world the opportunity to farm more efficiently in the toughest of conditions,” commented Rene van Driel, Director Marketing Challenger EAME.

Machines being honoured are chosen by technical writers from: Bavarian Agricultural Weekly, dlz agrarmagazin, LAND & Forst, Lower Saxony, neue landwirtschaft magazin and AGRARTECHNIK along with the internet portals agrarheute.com, landlive.de and technikboerse.com

To celebrate this great award, Challenger will be producing a limited production of 500 1:32 scale models showing the livery of the Milestone award.

Visit Hall 7 at Agritechnica to see Challenger’s special display.
http://meilensteine.agrarheute.com/steckbrief-challenger