At a time when many manufacturers are diversifying out of agriculture, Volvo has decided to get back in. The Swedes’ mission? To regain a slice of the 100hp+ wheeled loader market that it relinquished to JCB back in the early 1980s. Andrew Faulkner takes a brief drive in Volvo’s farm-spec L70C
JCB could not have planned it better. Just as it was launching its big Farm Master wheeled loaders, Volvo decided to vacate the UK market. The Staffs-based firm said ‘thank you kindly’ and has gone on to dominate the contractor-oriented sector with an 80-90% share.
But now, almost 20 years on, it’s payback time – and Volvo wants back ‘in’. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that the Scandinavians have delayed their return for so long because, though not huge, the big wheeled loader market has grown at a healthy rate over the past two decades alongside the increasing
use of 400hp+ self-propelled foragers.
So, Volvo’s back and planning to take on JCB’s current Farm Master line-up with its 130hp/11t L70C. To get a feel for what the muscular Swede has to offer, we visited Ray and Geoff Pierce’s contracting operation, based near Leicester. The Pierces run a 10-month-old L70C which, to-date, has clocked about 1,500 hours.
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