DRIVING IMPRESSION: Prepare for some new battle lines to be drawn in the 400hp+ conventional tractor sector as global manufacturers up the ante. Latest contender is Claas with its new Axion 900 line-up, which, for now, claims to be the world’s most powerful tractor family on a conventional rigid chassis. Topping out at 410hp and tipping the scales at 12.5t, the flagship Axion 950 model certainly comes with some interesting statistics
IThe 3000 series Xerions continue to meet the high-horse needs of many ag contractors and tillage operations, but for other businesses the system tractor design rates as simply too much of a break from the norm. That’s one of the reasons why Claas has opted to strengthen the ranks of its big tractor offering with something just a little more ‘ordinary’. Enter the four-model Axion 900 line-up, which is said to be equally as adept at lugging cultivation kit through dirt as it is at hauling big loads on tarmac.
Main talking point on the 900 is its surfeit of available power and the fact that its output rises all the way up to 302kW/410hp (to ISO 14396). And just as interestingly, Claas doesn’t source the motor from its usual tractor engine supplier, Deere Power Systems, nor from Caterpillar or Mercedes, which provide the muscle in the firm’s combines and foragers.
Instead, Axion designers have turned to Italy and plumped for a Cursor 9 from Fiat Powertrain Technologies, the same sixcylinder, 8.7-litre engine found in the Case IH Magnum and New Holland T8 high-hp prime movers. For now this is reckoned to make the Axion 950 the most powerful conventional rigid-chassis tractor on the market, although there’s a question mark over how long this title will be retained, as Case IH has already stated that it’s giving the Magnum more power during 2012.
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