A recent demonstration day of JCB’s Fastrac 8330 iCON tractor in Victoria provided more positive feedback, local distributor CEA says
Nothing beats getting customers behind the wheel of a Fastrac, JCB CEA dealer network general manager Paul Barry reckons.
It is for this reason that the manufacturer teamed up with Victorian dealer Michael’s Group to hold a demonstration day last month.
Customers could try out both the Fastrac 4220 iCON and Fastrac 8330 iCON tractor during the demo day, held on a property in the northern Victorian town of Lockington, near Michael’s Group’s Echuca branch.
“Certainly a lot of time and effort goes into these days but we see them as an important chance to actually get customers in the seat and in the paddock,” Barry says.
“Especially with the Fastrac, that’s where we can demonstrate features like the comfort level, speed, safety and productivity to customers because you don’t see that when it’s sitting stationary in the dealership.
“You need to have it on an implement rocking around the paddock doing the same jobs that you do every day.”
As JCB’s latest model – having only been in the Australian market for about 18 months – and featuring the technology-packed iCON control system, its stability at high speed is just one of many features the manufacturer and its local distributor CEA are keen to show off to customers.
Since the Fastrac 8330 iCON’s launch, Barry says the customer response has been overwhelmingly positive, with praise for its comfort and ease of use.
“The common feedback with the iCON for someone that hasn’t been in a Fastrac before is the level of comfort that you get,” he says.
“It is by far the most comfortable tractor on the market today in that horsepower by a mile.
“The other thing is the use of technology and how easy it is to navigate, which has been really the big step forward with the iCON.
“The intuitive use of the technology means pretty much anyone can get in there and in five minutes be very comfortable in setting parameters and personalising their settings.
“All of that can be done very simply now. If you can drive an iPad, you can drive an iCON.”
JCB’s Fastrac 8330 iCON produces 348hp (260kW) and 1450Nm of torque, while its maximum speed of 70km/h is another attention-grabbing feature which helps to get jobs done quicker.
It is a high-end, powerful tractor that is perfectly suited to Australia’s broadacre farmers and the introduction of the iCON concept helps to make it even more user friendly.
The key feature of the iCON concept is JCB’s new armrest console and touch-screen display.
This offers fully integrated ISOBUS connectivity, precise GPS guidance and implement control applications, all of which is controlled through a new 30cm colour touch screen display.
Barry says customer feedback is crucial towards JCB CEA’s ongoing product development, with previous demo days helping to shape the Fastrac iCON models.
“The Fastrac iCON has been built specifically for Australia in many cases and that’s off the feedback that we’ve got from customers, which comes from these sorts of days,” he says.
“CEA are that type of company and certainly JCB are that type of company where we want to be out with customers, and we want their feedback.”
An additional incentive for customers to buy a Fastrac 8330 iCON now is due to the quick delivery times available, thanks to stock availability.
Thanks to good planning by CEA, the COVID-19-era stock shortages are a thing of the past and customers will have access to their machines in time for the coming season.
This increased stock availability is also part of the reason why demo days such as last month’s one in Lockington can occur.
“Having stock also creates the ability to demonstrate it and that’s why we did that day,” Barry says.
“We couldn’t do it this time last year because we actually didn’t have stock to do it, so that is another one of the benefits of actually starting to have a bit of stock around the place.
“We’ve landed the stock to be here in time for the season and it’s actually a very good time to buy pre-June.”
The British-made tractors are distributed throughout Australia by CEA, whose national dealer network includes Michael’s Group.
The full Australian product range, along with other agricultural machinery such as telehandlers, can be viewed at www.jcbcea.com.au
