Wirtgen machines will soon go away from three Komatsu-owed U.S. dealers.Komatsu America says it will phase out the sale of Wirtgen products by U.S. Komatsu-owned dealers. Komatsu said the agreement with Wirtgen America was in the “best interest of both parties.” The agreement follows last year’s acquisition of the Wirtgen Group by John Deere.
The three Komatsu-owned dealers involved in the agreement — Komatsu Northeast, Komatsu Southwest and Edward Ehrbar — will stop being authorized dealers of Wirtgen machinery after September 30, 2018. In addition, the three dealerships will stop being authorized dealers of Wirtgen OEM parts and service after March 31, 2019. Komatsu Northeast, formerly Binder Machinery, formed in December, 2016 and covers the state of New Jersey. Komatsu Southwest has four locations in New Mexico and Texas, and Edward Ehrbar has locations in Younkers and Holbrook, New York, along with Danbury, Connecticut. Edward Ehrbar became an operating division of Komatsu America in 2014.
Komatsu-owned U.S. dealerships Midlantic Machinery, purchased by Komatsu in 2013, and the recently-announced purchase of PBE Group (Pine Bush Equipment, East PBE Incorporated), were not Wirtgen Group dealers and are not included in the agreement.
Deere’s acquisition of Wirtgen was finalized in December. At the time, Deere said it planned to maintain each of the Wirtgen Group’s existing brands, along with the group’s management, manufacturing footprint, employees and distribution network. Deere said “the combined business is expected to benefit from sharing best practices in distribution, customer support, manufacturing and technology as well as in scale and efficiency of operations.”
