Arbos

History

Arbos, a bicycle manufacturer, took its name from the acronym of two Piacenza businessmen Araldi and Boselli. In 1952 it was bought by Bubba S.A., a company that originated from SAFI in Piacenza, which in 1930 had taken over «Pietro Bubba & C.», the company that produced the Bubba agricultural tractors.

The Arbos-Bubba period

In 1954 the company became Arbos-Bubba and launched a wheeled tractor with a 35 HP Perkins P4TA diesel engine, followed by a tracked version, with a choice of two engines, the next year: Perkins P4TA or the 32 HP Deutz F2L514. The tractors were not very successful: by the end of December 1955 it had sold only 33 wheeled versions and 9 tracked. In 1956 the brand dropped the Bubba name, and became simply Arbos. It produced the 100 C combine harvesters, wheeled and tracked, and the Allodola 650 with a diesel Fiat engine. These were followed by the 1000 Super and the 750 Super.

From the economic boom to the seventies

In 1960 Arbos-Bubba became Arbos Spa.Arbos began producing combine harvesters in the new plant in San Lazzaro, close to Piacenza. Three years later they produced the new 1000 Major 87 HP, with the new olive green livery.

In 1964 Arbos Spa was taken over by the American company White. The following year they released the flagship of European combine harvesters, the 1220. In a few years the range grew with new models: 1220, 780, Record and then 120 Pantera, 165 Tigre, 100 Lince and 125 Giaguaro. In 1971 they launched the Pantera 7 Colli, the first self-levelling combine harvester in the world, with levelling on 4 sides, longitudinal and transversal.

In 1972 Arbos Spa became a branch of White and the following year it launched the self-leveller 100 AL. On 20 November 1975 White Arbos Spa stopped trading and was wound up on the 31 December of that year.

The new Arbos

In 1976 Arbos Spa was bought by the Magni brothers and renamed Nuova Arbos. The new company presented the self-levelling 565 AL and started producing two new self-levelling machines: the 565 A-4-L and the 705 A-4-L and two flat-land machines, 140 - 160.

In 1983 the Nuova Arbos changed hands once again, going back to its old name Arbos Spa, for the production of combine harvesters for wheat, rice and corn: 100 – 125 – 140 – 160 - 565 A4L – 705 A4L.

In 1985 Arbos SPA took over Italo Svizzera of ZolaPredosa (BO), to produce single row and double row beet harvesters. A year later it launched two new self-levelling combine harvesters, the 400 AL and the 200 AL. Subsequently the company started focusing on updating the top of the range machines, by launching the 800 and 1000. The 600 was designed, but only one model was actually built.

In 1994, four years short of its centenary, Arbos folded definitively.

Rebirth

In 2011 Lovol Heavy Industry ltd, Chinese manufacturer of tractors, agricultural machines and earth moving machinery, opened a research and development centre in Calderara di Reno (BO), to coordinate its activities in Europe. After taking over Arbos and Bubba, this new centre became the headquarters of a new holding, Lovol Arbos Group Spa, whose aim was to design three tractor platforms from 100 to 270 HP and recuperate the industrial know-how of Arbos combine harvesters.

In 2015 the Lovol Arbos Group took over Matermacc, a manufacturer of high-tech planters based in Friuli Venezia Giulia. This was the first step in a purchasing project aimed at creating a full integrated line in the agricultural machines sector.

In November 2015 the first Arbos 5000 series tractors and the concept of the new combine harvesters were presented at the international Agritechnica show in Hanover.

Tractors