Considering only the percentage of dealers who expect increases in revenues in 2015, Kubota and independent dealers, those not carrying any of the major brands, would be at the top of this year’s “most optimistic” list. At the other end of the “optimism” scale are Case IH and John Deere dealers.

Overall, 52% of Kubota dealers are forecasting a pick up in revenues in 2015, 4% are looking for gains of 8% or more and 48% see increases of 2-7%. 

Of the independent dealers in the 2015 Dealer Business Outlook & Trends survey, 44.8% are forecasting increased revenues; 6.9% see growth of 8% or more, while 37.9% anticipate increases ranging from 2-7%.

Only 4.4% of Case IH dealers are looking at revenue growth in the year ahead; 1.1% expect revenues to rise by 8% or more, and another 3.3% anticipate increases of 2-7%. Only 14.6% of Deere dealers are forecasting a revenue increase for the year; 4.2% project growth of 8% or more, while 10.4% expect an increase of 2-7%. AGCO and New Holland dealers occupy the middleground this year, with 21% of AGCO dealers and 17.6% of New Holland dealers anticipating increased revenues in 2015.

As a group, North American dealers see little potential for increasing unit sales of combines in 2015, but again, the Canadians are far more optimistic than are their U.S. counterparts.