The increasingly bullish PFG Australia organisation has just announced it has added the famous Japanese marque to its burgeoning range of brands.

Better known for its world-beating diesel engine technology, Yanmar tractor division's senior manager, marketing and sales, Takeshi Terada, said more than 1600 of its tractors had been sold in Australia during the 1980s before the demise of the former marketing agreement.

But the opening of a tractor factory in the US last year, plus another due to come on-stream in Thailand next year, is part of a recent move to deploy a global platform concept to garner more international sales.

"The Australian market will be sourced from America and Japan," Mr Terada said, adding that product supplies at this stage were not a top-of-mind issue for the company.

Yanmar's diesel engine pedigree is impressive, having been in the business for the past 75 years.

Its tractor division has been operational for 45 years, supplying John Deere with some one million compact tractors along the way.

Technical highlights over the years included the unveiling of the world's first power-shift transmission in 1976, an impressive rice harvesting inventory, including tracked tractors, and the introduction, more recently, of its HMT continuously variable transmission.

Today, Yanmar builds in excess of 45,000 units a year.

The PFG Australia organisation is interesting in its own right since it currently distributes such well known brands as Landini, McCormick, Daedong, Buhler and now Yanmar.

As well, Howard Australia is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the group.

NZ-based CEO Bruce Nixon made the point PFG Australia was the third largest player in the Australian tractor market whilst remaining a fully independent and privately-owned New Zealand company.

"Our $280m annual turnover puts us in the top 100 NZ companies by revenue," he said.

"And we now account for about 1:5 tractors sold in Australasia and that's going to improve with the addition of Yanmar.

"Australia now accounts for half our business and it won’t be long, probably only a year or so, before our Australian operation becomes the biggest part of the group."

Mr Nixon acknowledged the organisation was ambitious, was in Australia to grow the business, plus make money – a strategy it did not intend to shy away from.