improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages a major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject . it may require cleanup to comply with wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view . please discuss further on the talk page . november 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message this article relies too much on references to primary sources . please improve this by adding secondary or tertiary sources . november 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message this article may contain improper references to self published sources . please help improve it by removing references to unreliable sources where they are used inappropriately . november 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message valtra oy ab formerly called valmet 1 type osakeyhti industry agricultural machinery 2 founded 1951 in jyv skyl finland start of tractor production ; 1 12 december 2003 2003 12 12 in suolahti finland as a separate company headquarters suolahti nekoski finland area served worldwide key people jari rautj rvi general director products tractors brands valtra revenue 84 809 000 2015 89 701 000 2014 profit 11 708 000 2015 10 836 000 2014 number of employees 918 2014 2 parent agco website valtra.com valtra is a manufacturer of tractors and agricultural machinery and forms part of the agco corporation . valtra tractors are manufactured in suolahti finland and mogi das cruzes brazil . valtra s products in the brazilian market also include combine harvesters sugar cane harvesters self propelled sprayers and seed drills . 3 4 contents 1 company 2 market position 3 history 3.1 factory in brazil 3.2 valmet acquires volvo bm tractors 3.3 factories in tanzania and portugal and license manufacturing 4 ownership 5 innovation 5.1 pioneer in turbocharging 5.2 stepless transmission 5.3 custom built tractors 6 models 7 references 8 external links company edit valtra inc. and valtra do brasil are fully owned subsidiaries of the american agricultural equipment manufacturer agco corporation . agco s headquarters are situated in duluth georgia and its eame head office in neuhausen switzerland . agco is the world s third largest manufacturer of agricultural equipment . in addition to valtra other agco brands include massey ferguson fendt challenger and gsi . in finland agco also owns the agco power engine plant in linnavuori nokia which produces off road diesel engines for agco and other manufacturers . agco is listed on the new york stock exchange . valtra inc. employed 918 people at the suolahti tractor plant at the end of 2014 . valtra manufacturers around 20 000 tractors a year at its plants in suolahti and mogi das cruzes . market position edit valtra valmet 6400 valmet valtra has been the most popular tractor brand in finland since the early 1970s and the most popular tractor brand in scandinavia since it took over volvo bm s tractor operations in the early 1980s . in brazil and south america valmet valtra has been the second or third most popular tractor brand depending on the year . 5 in western markets valtra has been the fourth or fifth most popular tractor brand depending on the year . valtra tractors are currently sold in around 75 countries around the world . 6 history edit valtra s roots go back to the finnish state rifle factory founded in jyv skyl in 1928 and the finnish state artillery factory which moved from helsinki to jyv skyl in 1939 . following the second world war in 1945 the former defensive weaponry plants owned by the finnish state were combined under a new organisation the state metal works valtion metallitehtaat the name of which was then shortened to valmet . following the war the artillery and rifle plants were converted to produce goods for war reparations and civil use although the rifle plant also continued to produce military and civilian weapons until 1992 . 7 8 valmet 20 was the first tractor model . the first valmet tractors were manufactured in 1951 . the prototypes and first 10 tractors were the result of cooperation between the artillery and rifle plants after which tractor production was consolidated within the rifle plant in tourula jyv skyl . the first tractors actually used parts of cannon barrel for their subframes so valmet quite literally beat swords into ploughshares . 8 9 the first tractor model was the valmet 15 the model number indicating its horsepower . the tractor was designed to replace horses on small finnish farms and in the forests . the upgraded valmet 20 model followed in 1955 . 1 the valmet 33 d model was launched in 1957 with a modern diesel engine and the fuel tank located between the clutch and the gearbox which became a trademark of valmet and valtra tractors . the protected position of the fuel tank also made it particularly well suited to forest work . the displacement of the three cylinder valmet 309 d engine was 2.7 litres and it produced 37 horsepower . the engine was very modern for its time . it had excellent cold start properties and featured liquid engine cooling wet cylinder liners and direct injection . 10 valmet opened valmet do brasil tractor factory in mogi das cruzes brazil in 1960 . factory in brazil edit by the late 1950s valmet exported several hundred tractors a year to brazil . the brazilian government planned to nationalise tractor production however and announced a bidding competition for establishing factories there . valmet s factory project was approved and production began rapidly in 1960 starting with the valmet 360 d model . 11 tractor cabs became more widespread in the 1960s especially in the nordic markets due to more stringent safety regulations and comfort requirements . the original valmet factory in tourula finland could not assemble tractors with cabs due to the low ceiling and the factory area near the expanding centre of jyv skyl began to be too small . accordingly tractor production moved in 1969 to suolahti where the state owned an industrial site . transmission production followed in 1975 following the construction of a new plant on the site . marketing and engineering operations moved to suolahti in 2005 and 2006 . 12 valmet acquired volvo bm tractor operations in 1979 creating volvo bm valmet tractor brand . valmet acquires volvo bm tractors edit valtra traces its origin not only to valmet but also bolinder munktell and volvo . bolinder munktell merged with the swedish company volvo in 1950 to form bm volvo later volvo bm . in the late 1970s volvo bm decided to focus on construction equipment and sell off its tractor and forest machinery business . valmet was already bigger than volvo bm in the tractor market and was keen to invest more in the business . volvo bm and valmet signed a letter of intent in november 1978 and the final agreement was signed on 1 october 1979 . 13 work on designing a new range of tractors designated volvo bm valmet began already in january 1979 . scantrac ab a joint venture between volvo bm and valmet was responsible for engineering and marketing operations as volvo bm wanted to transfer its sales network and customers to valmet . tractor production at volvo bm s factory in eskilstuna sweden was discontinued and the factory switched to manufacturing construction equipment . 14 the first volvo bm valmet models were unveiled in sweden in may 1982 . volvo supplied the cabs and transmission components to all 505 905 series tractors between 1982 and 1991 . after taking over volvo bm s tractor operations valmet became the biggest tractor brand in northern europe having already been the market leader in finland and one of the most popular brands in brazil . factories in tanzania and portugal and license manufacturing edit in 1980 valmet and the government of tanzania set up an assembly plant for tractors in kibaha . the trama company was established in the spirit of development cooperation and was 80 percent owned by the tanzanian state motor corporation 10 percent by valmet and 10 percent by finnfund . between 1983 and 1989 the tanzanian plant manufactured around 2000 valmet 604 series tractors with 10 to 12 percent of components sourced locally . 15 assembly of valmet 604 tractors in kibaha tanzania factory . valmet has also had two factories in portugal . between 1964 and 1967 the fap factory produced around 700 valmet 361 series tractors under license in aveiro . in 1989 valmet tractor s.a. was established in portugal when it seemed likely the eu would limit sales of imported tractors through tariffs . the factory in montijo operated from 1990 to 1997 producing around 1300 tractors in total . after finland joined the eu the factory was no longer needed . between 1995 and 1997 the factory in montijo also produced tractors for the austrian brand steyr . 16 valtra tractors have been manufactured under license in india by eicher tractor which produced the valmet 365 model and 320d engine for a few years beginning in 1997 . in addition hema end stri hattat in turkey has manufactured the valtra a series under license for the local market since 2004 . hema hattat has also manufactured small a series models sold under the valtra brand around the world . 2 3 valtra t170 tractor valtra in turn manufactured the massey ferguson 4400 series at the suolahti factory for a few years beginning in 2005 . the mf 4400 series was based on the valtra a series . 17 the valtra s series has been manufactured at the agco factory in beauvais france since 2009 . from 2003 to 2007 the s series was manufactured at the suolahti factory . beginning in 1989 the valmet 8300 and 8600 models were also manufactured in beauvais at what was then the massey ferguson factory . at the same time massey ferguson began using valmet diesel engines for its own models . agritalia in turn manufactured valtra 3000 series vineyard tractors in the early 2000s . 18 in february 2015 a valtra tractor driven by ex world rally champion juha kankkunen equipped with nokian tyres set a new world speed record for tractors at 130.165 km h. 19 ownership edit valtra n 143 when it was founded in 1945 valmet was a fully state owned company . in 1994 finnish state owned companies were reorganised and valmet s tractor operations were transferred to a joint company with sisu trucks creating the sisu valmet brand . 20 in 1997 sisu including its tractor operations was acquired by partek . at the end of 1999 the finnish state owned 30 percent of partek . 21 in 1998 the brand name was changed from valmet to the transition name valtravalmet before being shortened to valtra in 2001 . in 2002 partek was acquired by the kone corporation which split up partek and sold valtra and sisudiesel to the american agco corporation for eur 600 million in 2004 . 22 innovation edit valmet valtra has introduced numerous innovations that later became industry standards . valtra n133 hitech5 is equipped with forest crane steel fuel tank narrow mudguards cross ply forest tyres and forest cab with twintrac reverse drive control . one of the typical features of valmet valtra tractors from the 1940s to the present has been their suitability for forest work . in the nordic region tractors have traditionally been used for farming in the summer and forest work in the winter . from the 1960s to the 2000s valmet valtra tractors featured metallic fuel tanks situated within the subframe where they are protected from rocks tree stumps and branches . in the newest valtra models the fuel tank is no longer situated inside the subframe but