Eicher tractor was a manufacturer of

tractors A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

agricultural machinery Agricultural machinery relates to the machine (mechanical), mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are list of agricultural machinery, many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractor ...

and engines. The company was founded in 1936 by the brothers Josef and Albert Eicher in the Upper Bavaria town of Forstern. The brand name "Eicher" was last used in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

in 2009 by the Dutch agricultural machinery dealer Hissink & Zonen and is still in use today in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Eicher Motors Eicher Motors Limited is an Indian multinational automotive company that manufactures motorcycles and commercial vehicles, headquartered in New Delhi. Eicher is the parent company of Royal Enfield, a manufacturer of middleweight motorcycles. ...

, which manufactures tractors & commercial vehicles by this name.

History

The first Eicher tractor was made by Joseph and Albert Eicher in the 1930s, in the village of

Forstern Forstern is a municipality in the district of Erding in Bavaria in Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to t ...

, near

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It was the beginning of considerable development of Eicher's Forstern and

Dingolfing Dingolfing () is a town in southern Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the Landkreis (district) Dingolfing-Landau. Dingolfing is home of a BMW assembly plant. History The area now called Dingolfing was first mentioned in ''Tinguluinga'' in th ...

factories. These pioneers made several tests and carried out a patient work of clarification. The first evolution was marked by the construction of an automatic mower and a three-wheeled tractor. In 1936, Eicher built the first diesel tractor with a 14.7 kW (20 hp) Deutz – diesel engine. The engine was welded to the frame and the rear axle was flanged. The gearbox was attached to the engine and passed the power via a propeller shaft to the rear axle. The mowing drive went from there via an open chain drive. One year later, in 1937, Eicher was represented for the first time at the DLG exhibition in Munich.Walter Sack: ''Eicher Traktoren und Landmaschinen'', Seite 11 The block-construction of the Eicher tractors with engines of Deutz and transmission of Prometheus prevailed in the following years. More and more tractors were sold, even tractors could be exported to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. Eicher brothers Joseph and Albert Eicher were born and grew up in an agricultural part of

. Their personal taste for agriculture favored the development of ideas which led to the manufacturing of machines and modern devices.

After the war

After the war, production of pre-war tractors resumed. In 1948, the first post-war development was finally presented, the Eicher ED 16/I. Eicher tractor equipped with a self-welded engine (ED1). The single-cylinder engine produced 11.8 kW (16 hp). The Eicher ED 16/I was the world's first tractor with an air-cooled diesel engine. The air-cooled engines should be a badge of Eicher Tractors later. In the following years, the product range was greatly expanded, with the models Eicher ED 30 (1949), Eicher ED 25 / I (1950) and Eicher ED 28 (1953). The name component ED stood for Eicher Diesel, also the production increased constantly. Eicher acquired on July 1, 1951, the vehicle and mechanical engineering GmbH (Famag) in

. This expanded the company in a much greater depth, because with Famag it also got its own foundry . The trailer production of Famag was continued by Eicher for the time being. The brothers Eicher wanted to raise their own production for agricultural machinery. Thus, Eicher developed into a supplier of tractors and agricultural machinery. In 1959, Eicher set up the Eicher Tractor Corporation of India Private Ltd., along with the Goodearth Company of

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, and began production in 1960 of Indian-built

Eicher Eicher may refer to: * Eicher (surname), a surname * Eicher Motors (Eicher Group) * Eicher tractor * Eicher School, a school in the Faridabad district in the state of Haryana, India * 3617 Eicher, a main-belt asteroid See also * Aicher Aicher ...

tractors. That company sold the tractor business to

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...

, also of India, which still produces ''Eicher'' tractors. In the 1960s, Eicher started the production of a light truck, which was also produced for

Magirus Magirus GmbH is a truck manufacturer based in Ulm, Germany, founded by Conrad Dietrich Magirus (1824–1895). It was formerly known as Klöckner Humboldt Deutz AG, maker of the Deutz engines, so the brand commonly used was Magirus Deutz, and ...

at a later date. In 1973,

Massey Ferguson Massey Ferguson is an agricultural machinery manufacturer, established in 1953 through the merger of farm equipment makers Massey-Harris of Canada and the Ferguson Company of Ireland. It was based in Coventry then moved to Beauvais in 2003 when ...

purchased Eicher, and many Massey-licensed Eichers were built. They later sold their interest, and Dromson now owns the company. They now build specialized tractors for vineyards. In 2008, Eicher tractors were offered again at short notice by the brand owner Eicher Landmaschinen Vertriebs GmbH. These were the Eicher 677 and Eicher 777 models, which the former Dutch Eicher importer Hissink Oeken had manufactured by Carraro in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. This production also ended in 2009.

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline, Eicher vehicles
Christophe Guillaume's website
��collector of Eicher tractors Agriculture companies of Germany Defunct companies of Germany