More than 30 Landini tractor dealers and servicers from around the country have just returned from a journey to Italy to visit the factory, all courtesy of the manufacturer.
Local dealers Keith Worner, from Blenhiem's Ag Power Marlborough Limited and George Sturgeon, of Motueka Farm Machinery both qualified for the 10 day excursion and relished the opportunity to see the Italian factory in action, and taste some local hospitality along the way.
The highlight for Keith was visiting the factory to see how things were being done, but also the extra touring about. "It was good to trip around Italy to see the historical things like the Colosseum, you don't realise how young New Zealand is, they have thousands of years of history and we've just got 150. And things were a bit dearer over there of course."
George Sturgeon sold enough tractors over the last year to qualify for flights and accommodation for four indivduals. He raffled off the extra tickets to his local clients, to accompany him and his wife Dee half way around the world.
Chris & Lyn Drummond and Doug & Marie Satherley from Motueka won that draw in early June, and together with the Sturgeons, the party made an impact on the world, right from day one.
"We had a real good start when our early morning plane was delayed from Nelson here, that threw a spanner in the works. We had 15 minutes to get the connecting flight in Auckland, so that was delayed so from then on we were behind all the way to Italy. It was 42 hours before we got our heads down again in Rome " George recalled.
His biggest highlight was also touring the Landini factory, "It's good to see how they're built and how they are assembled, we went right through the factory, and were then presented with the New Zealand 'Dealer of the Year' award. Then we were wined and dined of course."
And this is the second year in a row George has won the title. "I won it in '98, I won '99, and I'm gonna win 2000, I want the 2000 one, I've laid down the gauntlet to all the others," he quipped and he's expecting another shipment of tractors due in the next month or so.
Almost 80% of his clients are apple growers, while dairying and agricultural sales are increasing. He puts his success down to running a good shop and being around for a while with 20 years on the road as a service mechanic, and the quality of the product, "It's a good tractor, and we are very pleased with the franchise we've got."
