Kubota

Kubota has been manufacturing compact tractors and agricultural machinery since its founding in 1890. The company’s tractors are designed with versatility in mind, supporting attachments for mowing, tilling, hauling, and specialty crop work, and featuring ergonomic operator stations designed for comfort and intuitive control. Recent models also integrate GPS guidance and precision farming capabilities, helping farmers optimize input efficiency and field productivity. While the company’s business is rooted in selling hardware outright, Kubota has steadily expanded into IoT and digital services. Offerings like KubotaNOW allow farmers to monitor equipment in real time, receive maintenance alerts, track fuel and temperature levels, and even disable machines remotely through the myKubota app. These tools extend the value of Kubota’s tractors by streamlining fleet management, enhancing security, and reducing downtime.

The company’s business model is a hybrid recurring sales model. Farmers and businesses still purchase tractors as capital equipment, but Kubota layers in recurring revenue streams through its digital services. KubotaNOW, for example, includes a bundled three-year subscription with telematics hardware; Kubota Connect offers European customers remote monitoring, service scheduling, theft protection, and reporting. The company also offers a fully developed Farm Management Information System (FMIS) that visualizes field operations, optimizes inputs like water and fertilizer, and integrates with external data sources to support precision farming. This dual approach—CapEx hardware paired with Opex software and data services—aligns Kubota’s growth with the long-term needs of its customers.