Braud was founded in 1870 in St Mars La Jaille in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
; at the time Braud was manufacturing threshing machines.
[CARROLL J.: The world encyclopedia of tractors and farm machinery, 1999 LORENZ BOOKS, p.109] In 1908 Braud produced the first power-driven thresher and in 1927 the first thresher made completely with
metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
.
[DOZZA W., MISLEY M.: Fiat Trattori, dal 1919 a oggi, 2008 Giorgio Nada Editore, p. 125]
Braud acquired a strong position in the French
combine harvester
The modern combine harvester, or simply combine, is a versatile machine designed to efficiently harvest a variety of grain crops. The name derives from its combining four separate harvesting operations—reaping, threshing, gathering, and winnow ...
market, reaching 1.600 units sold in 1968; in the European crisis of the ’70 Braud lost 45% and focused production on grape harvesters. In 1975 Braud produced its first grape harvester, model 1020;
this was followed by 1040, the best selling grape harvester with over 2000 units sold in 4 years.
[New Holland official site http://agriculture.newholland.com/uk/en/WNH/whoweare/Pages/alonghistory.aspx]
Braud soon became the leader in self-propelled grape harvester, with 60% of market share in France and 50% worldwide. In 1983 Braud produced 670 grape harvesters.
In 1984
Fiatagri
Fiat Trattori S.p.A. was a Fiat group company founded in 1919, and was a constructor of agricultural equipment, tractors in particular. Over its decades of history, it established itself as Italy's leading constructor and one of the biggest in Eu ...
acquired 75% of Braud.
References
External links
{{Fiat Industrial
Fiat
Defunct companies of France