The recent purchase of Kubota of Denver by the Bob Howard Luxury Auto Group has many industry watchers scratching their heads and pondering possible changes afoot in farm machinery marketing.

When an established auto dealer located primarily in Oklahoma and Texas that features products from Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover brings its deep pockets — and massive television advertising budgets — into the farm machinery mix, one must wonder when other shoes begin to drop elsewhere.

Kubota of Denver is the latest iteration of long-time equipment seller Universal Tractor Co. of Lakewood, Colo., and features all things orange from Kubota’s “heavy iron” M8 on down through hay equipment, utility vehicles and riding lawn mowers, so BHLAG didn’t just enter the lawn and garden tractor market.

Like other big OEMs Kubota seems to appreciate well-heeled companies operating numerous stores in their market areas, and this intermountain purchase seems to be tailor-made for that business model. The synergy of such arrangements makes sense, and this could be a bellwether moment in the industry.

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