DRIVING IMPRESSION: Claas Axion 850 tractor Latest introduction onto the 200hp tractor market is the Axion 800 series from Claas, designed to fit between the firm’s current Ares and Atles lines. Martin Rickatson drives the Axion flagship, the 165kW/225hp 850, and comes to the following conclusions
If there’s one thing above all others that tractor manufacturing companies have given their farming customers over the past couple of decades, it’s choice.
And along with this broader selection has come the need to categorise models in line with their characteristics and target market – the prime movers, the yard runabouts, the all-rounders – and, following this trend, there can be little doubt that current ‘category of the moment’ is the 200hp lightweight sector. It’s into this key segment that Claas pitches its first all-new range of ag tractors, the Axion line, which in hp terms overlaps with, but doesn’t replace, the upper-end Ares and lower-end Atles models.
From the outside, a new lighting arrangement, roofline and bonnet indicate the machines are significantly different to the Ares tractors to which they owe some of their parentage. And, while there are Deere-sourced engines and a Hexashift transmission, both established Claas tractor features, the motors are new Tier III units and the gearbox is completely revised with a fresh operation system. Inside the cab, there are armrest controls and a restyled right-hand console, along with a tractor management computer based on CEBIS technology used within the firm’s Lexion combines, making it the first time that visible engineering has been transferred from existing Claas machinery into its three-year old tractor line. As yet, there’s no CVT, but testing is ongoing and a CVT Axion should be unveiled at next year’s Agritechnica exhibition.
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