Bauma Blasts #2 (Kubota)

Japanese manufacturer Kubota had a buzzing stand at Bauma and there was plenty of new things to see and talk about on the stand, so much so that I spent well over an hour of my time there chatting with some of our friends from the Kubota UK team.

For the purpose of this post, we will focus on the two big product launches on the stand, the smaller stuff I will save for my compact equipment round up in Earthmovers Magazine.

We finally got to see the long-awaited reveal of the 14-15 tonne class U145 hydraulic excavator, which as we reported on pre-Bauma, is manufactured by Sumitomo as part of an OEM agreement with Kubota.

Interest in the new Kubota model was high despite the fact that most of us have pawed over this machine sporting different colours over the couple of years, most notably CASE, in the UK, but also seen as Link-Belt in the US and of course in original Sumitomo yellow in other markets.

This machine will however, be a great edition to the Kubota range enabling them to offer a larger excavator to compliment, their existing range of mini excavators.

In addition, as we reported previously Kubota has also agreed another OEM agreement, this time with Liebherr, to supply Kubota with 9 and 11-tonne wheeled excavators, which sees the Japanese manufacturer make a return to the wheeled excavator market after many years of absence. Its worth noting that these machines will also be powered by a Kubota diesel engine.

However, its looks like customers will have a bit of a wait to get their hands on one, as production is not expected to start at Liebherr until 2026.

Checkout the You Tube short from Kubota, its in German, but you'll gert the drift!