Building an annual 180,000 tractors and 700,000 diesel engines, there’s no denying the massive scale of Kubota’s manufacturing operation, especially in Japan and Asia. And it’s still growing. The global giant has plans in place for a 170hp tractor within the next two years, though for now the largest model in the range is the 103kW/138hp M135 GX — the subject of this month’s profi tractor test

IIn terms of worldwide sales, Kubota’s annual business tots up to more than the combined outputs of AGCO and Claas. The Japanese manufacturing giant clearly sees the agri sector as an area for growth and, as such, is setting up a new plant in Northern France. Not only that, but the firm has made no secret of the fact that it’s working on tractors up to 200hp as well as a stepless transmission.

But returning to the here and now, the current Kubota flagship — and candidate for this month’s test — is the 103kW/138hp/140PS M135 GX; the M110 GX (82kW/110hp/111PS)is the other model in the M-GX line, albeit with a smaller capacity motor. The M135 GX features the same 6.1-litre, four-pot engine that appeared in its predecessor, the M128 X, which we assessed back in the April 2009 issue, although a key difference is the 135’s engine meets Stage IIIB emission regulationsthanks in the main to a diesel oxidation catalyst and particulate filter.

First profi stop for the Kubota was the DLG test station in northern Germany. According to the dyno read-out, the M135 GX managed 88.5kW/118.7hp/120.3PS at the shaft with the engine spinning at 2,200rpm. Extra power was in short supply, with the motor’s constant power range not even reaching the bare minimum of 10%. Despite being a big block, torque maxed out at a modest 488Nm at 1,300rpm and increased by only 27%, while drive-off torque was a robust 117%. In conjunction with the practically spaced transmission gearing, this torque provided us with plenty of grunt for light jobs and road work. More on this later, though.

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