1960 Valmet goes Brazil
Product history
{title}
{readmore:Read more|link}{title}
{readmore:Read more|link}More about
{title}
{readmore:Read more|link}Valmet exports to Brazil had started promisingly, but almost immediately the Brazilian government decided to commence domestic tractor production. Competitive bids were invited from all tractor manufacturers, and of the ten applicants six, including Valmet, ultimately commenced production. The proposals presented by Valmet were considered the best in their class.
In 1960 Valmet established a factory in the town of Mogi das Cruzes, near São Paulo. The first 40-horsepower Valmet 360D tractors were completed in December of that year. Initially Valmet did not receive a permit to use its own diesel engines, and as a result early tractors were fitted with MWM power units.
Valmet do Brasil remained Finland’s largest industrial plant overseas until the 1980s, when Finnish pulp and paper giants also began opening factories abroad. As an investment the Brazilian plant was not even expensive, as the company was able to utilise all the cunning and thriftiness that it had been forced to employ at the Rifle Factory during the war years, the period of reparations, and the transfer to civilian production.
In 1963 Valmet introduced an articulated forestry tractor. Mostly constructed from Valmet 361D agricultural tractor components, this was the predecessor of today’s comprehensive range of Valmet forestry machines. Owing to a shortage of capacity in the Tourula factories, forest machinery production was transferred to another factory.
At the same time Rauno Bergius was assigned product development manager at the Tourula unit. His first design was the Valmet 565, which featured a synchronised transmission.
The next issue to be addressed was the tractor cab. A protective frame was to become an obligatory feature, and this was also used to attach cladding for weather protection. Introduced in 1967, the Valmet 900 represented a new line of thinking: it was the first tractor with an integrated safety cab as standard.
Read more:
Valmet tractors arrive at Santos harbour 1958.
Promotion of Valmet in a Brazilian exhibition.
Valmet do Brasil in the early 1960s.
